What Is And What Should Never Be
by Isabel5
Summary: Chollie - Victoria isn't convinced that Oliver's learned his lesson.  She's got one more card to play though: Sending him into the future to show him what could be his. When he gets back to his time can he make that future come to pass?
1. Chapter 1

**Title**: What Is And What Should Never Be  
**Fandom**: Smallville  
**Pairing**: Chloe/Oliver  
**Rating**: MA  
**Spoilers**: Roulette up to Fortune (at this point)  
**Summary:** Victoria isn't convinced that Oliver's learned his lesson. She's got one more card to play though: Sending him into the future to show him what could be his. But just when Oliver's getting used to the future that he could have he finds himself back in his own time and is willing to do whatever he has to do to make sure that future he saw will come true.  
**Disclaimer:** Don't own. Really want.  
**Author's Note: Here it is, the winner of the "What should I write next" poll!. **This is a little different for me because I'm writing the story from Oliver's perspective. This is my attempt to explain the progression of Chloe and Oliver's relationship (and even why he kept going after Lois there for a while). It seemed as if Oliver was doing the one chasing and Chloe was a bit reluctant so I wanted to think of why Oliver would be soooo persistant in persuing her and why, despite thier very short relationship he was so reluctant to give up on her. As always reviews are most appreciated, they're sort of like water; I could live without them but I'd be awfully thirsty!

* * *

Oliver stumbled blindly into the clock tower. He didn't bother to turn on the lights, but did at least remember to set the alarm and lock up. The last thing he needed tonight was any more surprises. His entire body ached all over, his muscles protesting violently with every step he took. He pulled his jacket off, tossing it in the general direction of the couch, making a mental note to burn it first thing in the morning. He stopped at the foot of his bed, stripping the rest of his clothes off, knowing he should take a shower but unsure if he had enough energy.

The first rays of the morning sun were coming through the window, shining on the bar in the corner. The crystal carafe, half full of scotch caught his eye and Oliver's stomach churned. For the first time in a long time the thought of alcohol was not appealing, in fact it was actually making him physically ill. He smiled softly thinking maybe he had changed and then fell forward collapsing onto the bed, sinking into the plush mattress. He was halfway asleep before his head hit the pillow.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Victoria stood on the sidewalk outside of the Clock tower and stared. She'd watched Oliver get into the elevator fifteen minutes before hand but not a single light had been turned on since. She smiled to herself smugly, he was probably exhausted, with everything that she put him through he should have passed out hours ago. The only thing that had likely kept him going this long was the adrenaline and that would have worn off by now. Victoria was ready to pass out herself but she couldn't. Not yet. Her job still wasn't done.

All outward appearances would indicate that Oliver Queen had truly come to terms with the man that he was and the man that he needed to be, that he was ready to pull himself out of the gutter and get back on to the path that he needed to be. But Victoria wasn't convinced. Oliver had seen what kind of man he really was and more importantly what kind of man he wasn't but Victoria knew that sometimes, every once in a while that wasn't enough.

Some people needed something more. They needed something to look forward to, something to strive for to keep them on the right path. Victoria just knew, in all her years of doing this, that Oliver Queen was one of those people.

She turned away from the Clock tower and pulled open the door to the limo. A young man stepped out, his scuffed up blue Chuck Taylor's splashing in the puddle at the curb as he texted rapidly. "Max." She snapped and he typed faster, hitting send before closing the phone and sliding it in his pocket.

"Sorry." Max shrugged and looked up at the building, letting out a low whistle. "Dude's loaded huh?"

"Max, focus." Victoria snapped in his face. She was starting to reconsider this. His powers were amazing but he was young and unfocused. This would be his first time out and it was a big one. She'd found him in one of her casinos, using his power to look a bit into the future to cheat at roulette.

Even with his amazing power though he'd still managed to rack up a quite a large gambling debt with some very unsavory characters by getting too cocky and betting on things without bothering to use them. Victoria had taken him under her wing, paid off his debts and trained him, taught him that he could do so much more with his skills, stretched his powers to a limit that he didn't even know was possible.

He swore to her he was ready for this but Victoria wasn't so sure. She'd feel much better if his clothes didn't look like he'd spent the last forty eight hours sitting up playing video games. Discretely she leaned forward and sniffed his hoodie, recoiling at the smell of stale beer and bacon. "Did you even shower today?"

"Do you need me to shower to do my job?" Max asked, flipping the hood up over his head and smirking. "Chillax, I got this V." He cracked his knuckles and headed for the door to the clock tower.

"You know what he needs to see?" Victoria asked and Max waved her off, flashing the card that Chloe had given Victoria in front of the sensor. He tensed for a second until the red light turned green and looked down at the small piece of plastic, wondering if Victoria would let him keep it when the job was over.

Max waved the magic card at the sensor in the elevator and it took him straight to the top floor. When he got off he stopped for a second to let his eyes adjust to the darkness. This place was seriously awesome. Max looked around counting about five different pieces of art alone that could fund the most legendary weekend in Vegas the world had ever seen but he reminded himself to look and not touch. He had a good thing going with Victoria, she'd shown him stuff that he didn't even think was possible and he wasn't going to mess that up for one weekend of awesomeness.

Contrary to what Victoria believed, Max really wanted to prove to her that he could do this. So he forced himself to move forward to the open door at the end of the hall. Oliver Queen was lying face down in the bed, his legs hanging off the edges. It looked as if he'd just passed out and collapsed where he stood, which judging from what Victoria had put him through that day, was probably what happened.

"Alright Oliver Queen." Max rubbed his hands together. "Let's see what the future has in store for you." He reached out and touched Oliver's shoulder. Images flew into Max's mind, faster and faster, Oliver Queen's life playing out in front of him like a movie stuck on fast forward. There was a shit ton of boring stuff, business meeting after business meeting, seriously this dude was going to spend almost a third of his life in boardrooms but to each his own Max shrugged, cause there was also a lot of completely awesome stuff too.

Oliver Queen was the Green Arrow, a little piece of information that Victoria had conveniently not passed onto Max. Dude had some seriously bad ass moments coming up in life and Max noticed, just some seriously bad ones. He actually kind of felt for the guy. He waded through it all, trying to figure out what exactly Oliver Queen would need to see, what little tidbit of his future he needed a sneak preview of to keep him on the right track. "Bingo." Max said as he found it and smirked. Victoria was totally going to buy him a new car for this. This was going to be epic.

"Ok, this has pretty much been all theory up until now. Victoria's convinced that we can do this and we're pretty sure that it worked that one time with the monkey with no obvious signs of trauma. But this is my first time with a human so-just saying, it might not work." Max screwed up his face in concentration. He locked onto an image of Oliver's future, grabbed tighter onto his shoulder and then pushed, with everything he had. He slammed into what he'd been calling the Time Barrier because he thought it sounded cool but what Victoria had said was likely the fabric of the cosmos.

All Max knew was that when he hit it, it hurt, like a freaking wall, or a barrier and certainly not like fabric so whatever. He took a deep breath and remembered what Victoria had said, that it was flexible, that it needed to be eased apart, not broken through so Max did just that, he eased through it and suddenly they were free and they were flying through freaking time and Max would give up gambling for ever if he could feel like this all the time and not for the first time he thanked Victoria for taking pity on him and pulling him out of the metaphorical and literal gutter and teach him to do this in the first place. He should buy her flowers, chicks liked flowers.

He suddenly remembered where he was and what he was supposed to be doing and almost missed his stop. "And this is where you get off." Max said, letting go of Oliver's shoulder and letting him fall through time, funnily enough exactly where he'd been when Max had taken him from the Clock tower, only you know, ten years into the future.

Max opened his eyes and found himself standing beside Oliver's bed, Oliver's body still lying there, asleep. He was breathing so that was a good thing at least. Max shook off that weird weightless feeling he'd always got and reached for the clock on the bedside table and set the alarm for six. Oliver had a coffee date that he could not be late for in the morning. Good deed done, Max turned and walked back to the door.

He didn't even look at the paintings or the sculptures or the other millions of things worth millions of dollars in the apartment because he knew if Victoria found out she'd make sure that he was never able to do that again and he totally had to do that again, like a million times. He might even give the card back.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver could feel the sun on his face and it was warm, almost uncomfortably so. He rolled away, digging his head in between the pillows in an attempt to escape the heat and let out a comfortable sigh when his cheek hit the cool sheets. He took in a deep breath and frowned, his eyes still closed. His sheets smelled weird, not bad, just different than normal. They still smelled like him and a hint of fabric softener, but underneath it all there was something else, some other smell. Oliver dug his head into the pillow even further, rubbing his nose along the cool fabric and took another deep breath. He groaned in frustration, the smell was familiar in a way that he was sure he'd smelled it before but he couldn't seem to place it at the moment. Whatever it was, it was intoxicating, he couldn't seem to get enough of it. Just as he was about to take another deep breath, a soft sleepy voice stopped him. "Don't sniff the sheets Ollie, it's weird."

He was about to open his mouth to defend himself when a soft warm body pressed up against him. A hand slid up from his stomach to stop on his chest, gently pushing him until he rolled onto his back. A head came to lay on his shoulder, hair tickling the underside of his neck as a knee slid up along his thigh, coming to rest against his hip.

He distinctly remembered that he went to bed alone the night before. He remembered because even if he hadn't been bone tired exhausted he was in no shape to pick up anyone presentable. He panicked for a moment, wondering if he'd woke up in the middle of the night and…ordered in. There was something about the body wrapped around him now, the familiarity the woman seemed to have with his body that just didn't scream high end escort to him.

He moved his hand instinctively to the woman's back, expecting to wince in pain at the movement but he didn't hurt, anywhere, at all. His muscles were loose and pliant, the headache completely gone. He brought his free hand up to his forehead, expecting to hit a few cuts and bruises but there was nothing. He paused, adding all of these little things together, the strange smell on the sheets, the body curled up against his and the lack of intense pain over every inch of his body and came up with the only logical solution, this had to be a dream.

The fingers on his chest started to move lazily back and forth, almost seductively and small soft kisses trailed up his collarbone to his neck. "A _very good_ dream." Oliver mumbled slowly and the lips against his chin vibrated softly with laughter.

"Come on, it hasn't been that long." The voice protested, sliding completely on top of him. "By the way you were the one who came straight home and passed out last night remember."

Well that much was true at least. He opened his eyes and found himself looking up into the sleepy, smiling face of Chloe Sullivan.

"Hey." Oliver blinked slowly, slightly startled. Her hair was longer, falling in messy waves past her shoulders but it was undoubtedly Chloe.

"Hey." She smiled down at him, lowering her lips to his and giving him a soft kiss.

When her lips touched his he sighed against her mouth. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't had this dream before, Chloe smiling on top of him, his fingertips sliding up the soft expanse of her thighs as her hair tickled his face. It's true he hadn't had it in a while. It had never been the same after he killed Lex, seeing Chloe's disappointed face staring back at him hadn't exactly been a turn on. Then there had been the whole Davis/Doomsday disastrous and Oliver had been too mad at her to be turned on by her. And then Jimmy had died and Oliver couldn't look at Chloe fully dressed without feeling guilty, he couldn't imagine picturing her naked.

As her teeth nipped at his bottom lip and Oliver groaned. It felt exactly like he remembered what he imagined it would feel like and if he was honest with himself, he'd missed this. Even if it was just a dream. His hands slid up Chloe's back, pulling her closer, bunching her shirt between his fingers, surprised to find so much fabric.

He pulled back and looked at her confused. "Is that my shirt?" He asked, looking at t-shirt that was hanging off her small frame. He saw the familiar logo for the Excelsior Lacrosse team and smiled.

Chloe looked down and frowned. "I've been in Metropolis for two months. By myself. I got lonely." She told him.

"I like it." Oliver smirked up at her. "You in my clothes, I like it." He told her honestly.

"You sure?" Chloe asked, her fingers skimming the hymn of the shirt. "Cause if you're not, I could take it off."

"No, you're right, I hate it." Oliver smiled. "Take it off, take it off right now."

Chloe laughed, grabbing the hymn and pulling it over her head in one smooth movement, tossing it over her shoulder to the ground. "Better?"

Oliver looked up at her and swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. "Much better." He nodded and she leaned down to kiss him again. This time she wasn't soft though, she was insistent and Oliver certainly didn't complain, trailing is hand up the curve of her back to tangle in her hair, twisting her head a little bit to the side to give him better access, allowing his tongue to snake into her mouth.

She tasted like he'd always imagined she'd taste but then again since this was his imagination, that made perfect sense. "Boxers." She breathed into his mouth desperately and Oliver blinked confused.

"What?" He asked her.

"Your boxers." Chloe laughed, trailing kissed up his cheek to his ear. "Take them off." She whispered before nibbling slightly on earlobe.

"Right." Oliver said, unsure suddenly how to work his hands, her words sending shivers down his spine in a way that had never happened to him before. He licked his lips a few times trying to get his breathing under control and Chloe laughed again.

"You're hopeless." She told him affectionately, sitting up and smiling down at him. "Maybe it has been too long. You're acting like a kid on prom night who just got shown his first set of boobs."

The teasing seemed to snap Oliver out of whatever trance he'd been in and his eyes narrowed. He grabbed Chloe's waist and sat up suddenly tossing her onto her back and then rolling on top of her. "I'll show you a kid on prom night." He promised, reaching down with one hand to remove the offending boxers and tossing them over his head.

Chloe laughed leaning her head back and exposing her throat. The sight was just so enticing that he had no choice but to run his tongue along her pulse point. Her laughter turned into a moan and she arched up into him and it was Oliver's turn to smile.

Her fingernails dragged down his back as he made his way down her neck, along her collarbone, his nose brushing gently along the swell of her breast. "Ollie." She groaned deep in her throat as his mouth closed on her nipple, sucking it gently into his mouth. He moved a hand down her stomach to her hips and smiled, pulling away to stare at her in amusement when he noticed something he'd missed before. "What?" She frowned up at him, panting. Her eyes were glassed over, her lips swollen and slick with spit and she'd never looked more beautiful.

"No panties?" He asked, grinding his hips down on her. "Now who's the kid on prom night?"

"We've been apart for two months." She said again desperately. "I haven't touched you in two months." She brought her hands up, fingers dancing along his abs and up to the chest. "You haven't been inside of me for two months." She locked her eyes with his and he swallowed hard. "So what are you going to do about that?" She smiled mischievously and Oliver's fingers tightened on her hip before sliding his hand to her knee and pulling her leg up.

Before he even had time to think, he was sliding inside of her. She gasped, arching into him and then wrapped her legs around his waist. "How's that?" He asked, dropping his forehead to hers, panting as he slid in and out of her with an increasingly frantic rhythm.

"That—" She swallowed her words, moaning shamelessly when he grazed that spot deep inside of her. She dropped her legs from his waist and levered her feet against the mattress, pushing up, changing the angle and forcing him deeper, letting him hit the spot dead on. She moaned even louder, turning it into a breathless laugh halfway through. "That'll work." She assured him and he captured her mouth in a desperate kiss and he pumped into her faster and faster.

She seemed to know just where to touch him, just what to do to drive him absolutely wild. Her hands were exactly where he wanted them to be, her touch not too light, not to rough, her teeth applying the perfect amount of pressure along his shoulder blade and then she was whispering his name in his ear and it wasn't breathy and it wasn't desperate it was…loving, that was the only way to describe it and then she was clenching around him and he was coming.

He collapsed against her for a second, both of them breathing heavily, their sweat soaked bodies pressed together as tightly as Oliver dared without squishing her. He laid soft kisses against her forehead as they're breathing evened out and he got enough strength back to roll over, pulling her with him, draping her over his body like a blanket.

"Oh yeah, I remember this dream." Oliver finally said, still panting.

"Dream about me often?" She asked lifting her head up to smirk at him.

"You'd be surprised." Oliver said. "There are a few different ones actually. There's one where you're working late at the Watchtower and I bring you dinner and we end up on top of your desk."

"We've done that, _a lot_." Chloe said rolling her eyes. "Don't you have anything more exciting?"

"There is one where you're out walking home late at night, all by yourself." Oliver told her, grabbing a strand of her hair and twisting it in his finger.

"This sounds promising." She rested her chin on his chest and stared at him.

"So you cut through a dark alley—"

"Why would I do that?" Chloe asked him seriously. "That sounds incredibly stupid."

"You're in a hurry." Oliver explained. "This is my fantasy ok, let me tell it."

"I'm just worried about how much of an idiot I seem to be in your fantasy." Chloe pointed out. Oliver glared and she mimed zipping up her lips.

"Anyway, you cut through this dark alley and there's a man there. He grabs for your purse and you scream for someone to help you."

"Why don't I just tase him?" Chloe asked interrupting him again.

"I don't know maybe you forgot your taser, maybe it wasn't easily accessible." Oliver groaned in frustration. "You know what forget it."

"No." Chloe sat up. "I want to hear this."

"Obviously you don't." Oliver said, pretending to be hurt.

"No, I do, I really do." Chloe assured him. "Come on finish it." Oliver shook his head. "Ollie, come on, I'm screaming for help and…"

"And I'm come swooping in and save you from the guy and then…" He trailed off.

"We do it in the alley?" Chloe narrowed her eyes at him in confusion. "That's your fantasy?"

"What?" Oliver asked defensively.

"Nothing, it's just…alley's are generally dirty, dingy places and I'm presuming the guy who attacked me is there somewhere, either unconscious or incapacitated, it's a bit…" Chloe bit her lip. "Gross."

"Oh right and let me guess your fantasies are candlelight and rose petals." Oliver asked her.

"I think I can do better than that." Chloe said. "And I'm certain I can do better than sex in an alley."

"Let's hear it then." Oliver pushed himself up onto his elbows.

"Ok." Chloe sat up, tucking her legs underneath her. "Um…let's just say it involves, you and me in the pool at the Sky Villa at the Palms in Vegas."

"The one that hangs out over the strip?" Oliver asked and Chloe nodded, kissing him softly before crawling over him and off of the bed. "Wait, hang on, this was just getting interesting."

"Be that as it may, we're already running late." Chloe told him.

Oliver wanted to point out that since this was a dream he couldn't be running late but he liked the view too much to disturb the moment. Even when Chloe reached down and pulled on his t-shirt again. "I'm going to make coffee, don't go back to sleep, we have too much to do today."

"I believe this is my dream, therefore I get to dictate what we do and I say we have nothing to do today." Oliver reached out and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her back down on the bed and into his lap. She laughed, wiggling out of his hold easily and back onto the floor. She reached into the bedside table and pulled out a small hair clip, deftly twisting the hair around her finger and then securing it on top of her head.

"And while I'm sure that actually works in your dream world Ollie, here in the real world we need to be at Met U in an hour."

"Why on earth do we need to be at Met U in an hour?" Oliver asked her lazily, leaning back against the pillows, his hands behind his head.

"Mia's graduation." Chloe stared at him. "I reminded you about this last night." She said in exasperation.

"Right, Mia's graduation." Oliver frowned wondering who the hell Mia was and why on earth he would need to be at her graduation. Normally his X rated dreams were just that, X rated. There would be sex, maybe a little bit of dirty talk and then generally more sex. There wasn't usually this much non sex related talking, there certainly wasn't non sex related activity.

Oliver jumped out of the bed and grabbed her around the waist, spinning her around, trying to get this dream back on the right track. He kissed her softly and decided the quickest way to do that was to play along with this whole thing. "I've been gone for two weeks remember. So what do you say we skip this graduation and spend the day here, in bed."

"You're my husband and I love you, but she's been working so hard for this for so long that there's no way I'm missing it and there's no way I'm letting you miss it and deep down you don't want to miss it anyway." Chloe laid her hands gently on Oliver's chest and pushed him into the direction of the bathroom.

His breath caught in his throat the second she said "husband" and really everything else got tuned out after that. He looked down at her hand resting on his chest and stared at the modest diamond ring sitting on her left ring finger. The word husband reverberating over and over in his head and he wasn't sure if he liked how his heart sped up a bit when he thought about it.

This was definitely new, it was way out of the realm of his usual x-rated dreams, this was downright domestic and Oliver Queen didn't do domestic.

He looked around the room for the first time since waking up. It was his bedroom at the Clock Tower only it wasn't. His bed was still there, in the same place it always had been, only instead of his normal black comforter there was a soft fluffy down filled blanket in a pale green with a sort of swirly organic design on it in white and matching pile of small decorative pillows on the floor by the bed.

In the corner there was a large, overstuffed white chair that looked very warn in next to a large book shelf stuffed to the brim with books that looked like they were actually well read. A soft floor lamp hanging over it provided some ambient lighting for reading. The bar was missing, in its place was a desk covered in what looked like fabric swatches and blueprints.

In one last desperate attempt to get this dream back on track he grabbed her wrist and pulled her with him toward the bathroom. "Ok, since we're running so late, how about you jump in the shower with me?" Oliver asked trying not to look at the ring on her hand focusing on getting her into the massive shower stall.

"I would love to, trust me but I've got a conference call with the architect and the contractor." She placed a soft peck on his cheek then walked out of the room leaving him to wonder what just happened.

In a strange sort of daze he climbed in the shower for lack of anything better to do. Standing under the warm spray, he noted vaguely how detailed this dream was. His usual shower stuff was mixed haphazardly with what he assumed was Chloe's bathroom stuff. He picked up a large green puffy ball and stared at it for a second, confused at what exactly it could be used for before dropping it to the shower floor. Then he reached out for his shampoo but stopped and reached past it a bit to a white bottle with little pink flowers all over it.

He looked around the shower stall as if waiting for one of his team to jump out and tell him he was being punked or something. When no one showed up he opened the bottle and sniffed it then closed his eyes and groaned. This was the smell in the bed sheets, this was the smell that was undeniably Chloe. He felt the blood rush straight to his groan and placed a hand on the shower wall to steady himself.

This was ridiculous, there was no way he was going to stand in the shower and jerk it by himself in his very own dream. So he bit his lip, pulled his arm from the wall and turned the hot water all the way off. The shock of the cold water slamming into him was more than enough to cool him off.

"Ollie!" Chloe called out suddenly and he was so startled by it that the shampoo bottle slipped from his fingertips and slammed into the ground.

"Shit." Oliver grumbled, watching as a pink shimmering liquid poured out of the bottle and down the drain.

"Are you almost done?" She called through the glass door.

"Uh, just give me a minute." He called back, quickly grabbing the bottle and screwing the top back on. It felt unbelievable light but he didn't think about it as he grabbed his own shampoo and quickly washed and rinsed his hair. When he couldn't find a washcloth anywhere he finally realized what the weird green ball was used for. So he lathered it up and washed his body quickly. He slipped out of the shower and found himself face to face with Chloe in the process of undressing. She put a hand on his arm as started to push past him toward the shower.

"You're freezing cold." She looked up at him confused.

"I needed a cold shower this morning." He said with a small smile and her face fell just a bit before she reached up on her tiptoes and placed a soft kiss on his lips.

"I know you've been out of town a lot lately and the few days you've spent at home I've been busy with the League and trying to get the house ready." She sighed. "Tonight's Mia's party but tomorrow I swear it'll be just to the two of us. We can spend the whole day in bed if you like."

"Yeah?" Oliver asked.

"Definitely." Chloe assured him.

He smiled as she tossed his shirt over her head and climbed into the shower. The water turned back on and Oliver smiled when he saw a steaming cup of coffee resting on the edge of the vanity for him. He took a long sip and then dug through the medicine cabinet until he came up with his shaving stuff. Chloe's hot shower steamed up the mirror pretty quickly and he used a hand to wipe away the mist only to stop when he caught sight of himself.

He stared at himself in the mirror, he looked older, there were a few more wrinkles around his eyes mouth, more than he remember the last time he checked and if he looked close enough he could see some graying around the temple. He'd been avoiding looking in the mirror lately and he knew he hadn't really been taking that good care of himself but it wasn't as bad as he suspected. He looked older but not bad, he might even go so far as to say he looked a little better like this, a bit more distinguished.

"Oliver?" Chloe called over the spray of the shower and slid the glass door open a bit. He turned around to see her holding a now empty shampoo bottle in her hand.

"Oh yeah, that fell off the shelf and sort of spilled a bit." Oliver said sheepishly, moving back to the mirror to finish his shaving.

She glared at him and tossed the empty bottle in the trash can before closing the shower door. "I'll have to use yours." She called out him. "Which means I'm going to smell like you all day long."

The razor slipped against his cheek and he closed his eyes. If the smell of Chloe on the bed sheets turned him on, the mere idea that she was going to be walking around all day smelling like him was enough to negate the cold shower and get him hard in seconds. He cursed when he saw the steady stream of blood flowing down his cheek and grabbed for a scrap of toilet paper.

The rest of the morning went by in a flurry of activity, Chloe fluttering around him, the two of them practically on top of each other as they got ready. They were constantly in each other's way , the two of them trying to share one mirror and one sink and Oliver was starting to wonder who the hell decided this situation was an anyway ideal.

It was like Chloe could read his mind and she smiled up at him in the mirror. "Just think when the house is finished, we'll both have our own sink." She said it with such longing in her voice that Oliver couldn't help dropping a small kiss to the top of her head.

She turned around and grabbed his tie, undoing his very uneven knot and tying the whole thing over for him. He braced himself up against the sink as she wound the silk around her fingers and he took a deep breath, realizing just how close they were. The smell of his shampoo floated up to him mixed with the smell of Chloe and it was just as intoxicating as he thought it would be. "Not enough time big guy." She patted his chest, smirking up at him knowingly, their proximity alerting her to the growing problem in his pants. "Tomorrow I swear." She smiled, slipping out from under his arms and heading into the bedroom.

The dream just got weirder, which is to say it got blatantly normal. Oliver decided to attribute it to the rollercoaster of emotions he'd experienced the last few days and not out of any subconscious desire for a life like this.

They made it to Met U with more than enough time to spare and then Chloe got a phone call and excused herself to take it leaving Oliver standing alone. "Is she talking to the contractor's again?" A voice asked from behind him.

"No." Oliver shook his head trying to remember Chloe saying a name when she answered the phone. "Barbara I think," he said turning around and coming face to face with a complete and total stranger. "Hello."

"Wait, is Oracle having trouble holding up the fort while Watchtower's away?" The man frowned and Oliver just shrugged, unsure as to what any of that meant. "So you two guys were running a bit late this morning." The man clapped a hand on Oliver's back. "Making up for lost time?"

"Lost time?" Oliver frowned, something about that sentence tugging at something.

"How long has she been in Metropolis without you?"

Oliver remember her words to him this morning, _You haven't been inside me for two months_. He swallowed hard. "Two months."

"Damn," he whistled. "You guys haven't been apart longer than a week in…well…forever." Oliver didn't say anything. After this morning he could totally see how someone wouldn't want to be apart from Chloe for any longer than was absolutely necessary. "God, can you believe that Mia's actually graduating?" The man said, interrupting Oliver's thoughts.

"It's crazy." Oliver shrugged, still unsure as to who the hell this Mia person was.

"I mean seriously when you found her, in that fight club did you ever think you'd see the day she walked across that stage, graduating from law school of all things?" The man asked.

"No, I can honestly say I didn't." Oliver shook his head hoping Chloe would get back soon because then at least maybe he'd get to learn this guy's name.

"You've got to be unbelievably proud of her." The man shook his head. "Doing all of this on her own, refusing any help." The man's face suddenly split into a huge grin and he laughed. "Remember when she found out that you sponsored that scholarship she got? She was so mad she nearly cut off your balls." He shook his head. "She declined the money, even after you explained you had no control over who it went to. Took two jobs and barely slept for a year but she paid for it by herself. Pretty impressive."

Oliver still didn't know who this Mia was she did sound quite impressive. "Yeah, she's one of a kind." Oliver nodded.

"No doubt about that." The man said.

"Hal!" Chloe walked up a huge smile on her face. "I'm so glad you could make it."

"Of course I could make it. Mia's like my God daughter after all, wasn't going to miss this for the world." The man who Oliver now knew was called Hal pulled Chloe into a big hug and Oliver felt his jaw clench.

"Please let me watch when she hears you call her your God daughter." Chloe smirked up at the man, dropping a peck on his cheek. "I would love to see her kick your ass again."

Oliver who noticed that Hal's arm was still around Chloe's waist would also love to see that but he offered a polite smile. "Sorry dude, hands off I forgot." Hal said stepping away from Chloe as if he could sense that Oliver was getting annoyed.

"Oh God." Chloe rolled her eyes. "You two are pathetic."

"You knew that when you married him." Lois said walking up behind Chloe and pecking her on the cheek. "And yet you still married him." She smirked at Oliver. "Hey Ollie, Hal."

"Lois." Hal reached forward and kissed Lois on the cheek. "Clark." He nodded at the other man who was walking up. "You guys are actually on time? What didn't have to stop off to save a puppy from a burning vehicle?"

"No our commute was puppy free." Lois laughed. "But tensions have been rising at the border in South Korea so I'm apologizing now in case he runs off in the middle of the ceremony."

"Boy Scout disappearing in the middle of something, bite your tongue." Victor said walking up to the crowd, AC and Bart on either side of him. "That would never happen."

"You guys are hilarious you know." Clark glared at them all. "See if I come running the next time one of you calls out for Superman. Maybe the next time the opportunity to make fun of me comes up, you'll all remember that you're not bullet proof."

"I am." John raised his hand walking up to the group.

"I am too." Victor said. "Kind of."

"I don't have to be, I'm faster than a speeding bullet." Bart winked at him.

"You guys suck." Clark pretended to pout and Lois grabbed his arm.

"Come on, don't take it personally honey." she said kissing him softly.

Oliver stared at them in confusion, Lois and Clark, kissing in front of him. There was something really strange about it but at the same time not strange at all. He shook his head in amazement. Lois and Clark. "I'm here, I'm here, I'm not late am I?" A blonde that Oliver didn't recognize rushed up to the group, slightly out of breath, brushing the hair out of her face.

"Courtney." Chloe smiled at her, giving her a big hug. "You're fine, made it just in time."

"Thank God, I was in the library when I realized what time it was. I rushed halfway across campus." She relaxed a bit. "Bart, could you…"

Before she could finish her sentence, Bart was gone and then back again holding out a cup of coffee. "You are the best." She offered him a small kiss on the cheek and he blushed bright red.

"When are you done with your exams?" Lois asked.

"Wednesday." Courtney groaned. "And I'm so ready."

"Just think one more year and that's going to be you." Hal pointed out to her, nodding to the stage.

"It's crazy." Courtney smiled. "I just wish Carter were here to see it." Her tone was so wistful and sad and then Oliver felt Chloe squeeze his arm, offering him a sad smile like that sentence should have meant something to him. He smiled down at her and she turned back to Courtney.

"So are you going to come out to Star City this summer?" Chloe asked Courtney.

"The house is on a beach right?" Courtney smiled at Chloe.

"A private one." Chloe said.

"Oh God, I hate you both." Lois groaned. "How are the renovations going? Is it going to be ready by the end of the month?"

"It better be." Chloe said. "I swear this is the last time I do major renovations from five states away that's for sure." Chloe, Lois and Courtney broke off as Chloe went on and on about her renovation hell and the guys converged on Oliver.

He had to fake his way through the conversation but he thought he was doing pretty good. Except every now and then he would do something or say something and he would see Chloe giving him this strange sort of look but just as soon as he saw it, it disappeared so he didn't think too much of it.

"Are we late?" A voice asked from behind them and Chloe and Oliver turned around to see Emil standing behind him, his hand resting on the small of a woman's back. A woman who looked suspiciously like Tess Mercer, a very pregnant Tess Mercer.

"Oh my God!" Chloe squealed looking at Tess and offering her a very loose hug. "Should you be out of the house? Should you be out of _bed_?"

"We're a week over due." Tess said with an affectionate smile on her face as her hand rubbed the top of her belly. She looked like the old Tess, she looked like Mercy, like the carefree girl he fell in love with all those years ago. Perhaps a bit older, a bit more sure of herself, more secure in her own skin but happier than Oliver ever remembered seeing her. "I'm tired of bed rest, maybe if I walk around enough she'll just—pop out."

"That's not how it really works dear." Emil said. "There are a few home remedies that supposedly can jump start labor but the science behind it is very iffy—" Emil was shut up when Tess' hand latched over his mouth.

"Honey, I don't want to hear one more word about the science." Tess said politely but with a frustrated edge to her voice.

"Your right." Emil pressed a soft kiss to her temple and Tess leaned her body into him.

"Let's get to our seats, get you off your feet." Chloe stepped up and slipped her arm in Tess' and walked away, the two of the chatting together like they were the best of friends but Oliver was pretty sure the last time he checked, they hated each other with a passion. "So are you anxious to get back to work?"

"Horribly." Tess sighed. "Why are you anxious to get back to Star City?"

"I'm…" Chloe paused trying to figure out how to word it. "I'm anxious to get back to my own equipment."

"I know exactly what you mean. When I had to fill in at the London office last year I didn't know where everything was and just when I got used to it all, I came back here. Did you get Victor up to speed?" Tess asked, walking down their reserved isle.

"Yeah, he'll be fine to take over on Monday and he can stay as long as you need him too, until you're ready to come back to work." Chloe said.

"Was it strange? Playing Watchtower again?" Tess asked Chloe and Oliver studied her, wondering when exactly Chloe stopped playing Watchtower.

"A little." Chloe admitted. "Not enough to come back, but it was fun." Chloe sat down in her seat and Oliver sat down next to her. "I wish I could help you out longer."

"Hey, you've been here for two months, I appreciate you staying that long." Tess tried to lower herself down into her seat and Oliver jumped forward and helped her sit down.

"Two months was the least I could do." Chloe smiled. "Besides, no way was I going to miss my best friend's baby shower and I couldn't very well let you set up the nursery on your own."

Oliver saw Tess expression soften as she looked at Chloe and he frowned deeper. "Hey, it'll happen for you guys you know?" Tess said, laying a soft hand over Chloe's. "When it's meant to be—"

"I know." Chloe nodded and Oliver saw her wipe at her eyes quickly. "I know." Without knowing why Oliver slipped his hand into Chloe's free one and she turned to him and beamed, unshed tears glistening her eyes a sort of lost, haunted expression on her face and Tess seemed to understand better than Oliver that a change of topic was in order.

"So, how are the renovations going?" Tess asked.

"God." Chloe rolled her eyes. "You don't want to hear about that trust me."

"Please all I've been talking about for the past few weeks is stuff like breast pumps and episiotomies and how many centimeters I'm dilated…I want to hear _all_ about the renovations." Chloe laughed and that slightly haunted look vanished from her eyes and for the first time in a long time Oliver wanted to thank Tess Mercer. This was a turning into a very weird dream indeed.

Eventually the conversation died down and the ceremony started. Oliver was looking through the crowd of graduates when a young woman caught his eye. She was staring straight at him and when she saw he was looking she smiled then rolled her eyes before sticking her tongue out. He smiled back at her and she turned around pretending to pay attention to what was going on in the ceremony.

All the speakers got up and talked about life and how you never stop learning and all those clichéd things they say at graduation and then they stared to call out names and when Mia's name was called and the girl who'd stuck her tongue out at him walked across that stage. Everyone in their section got up and started cheering. Chloe was standing beside him, her fingers in her mouth as she whistled loud enough to bust an ear drum and Oliver was sure they were louder than anyone else and he suddenly felt this strange sense of pride and added his own cheers in.

Chloe looked up at him, her eyes beaming with unshed tears, her face obvious proud and on instinct he threw an arm over her shoulder and kissed the top of her head. She smiled up at him, the strange look from early gone for the moment and he just let himself be in the moment.

The longer the dream had gone on, Oliver had the sinking suspicion that maybe, just maybe it wasn't a dream, but he wasn't sure what else it could be and honestly he wasn't in too much of a hurry to figure it out. The ceremony ended soon after and they were all waiting around in the parking lot of the auditorium when a tiny brunette came running up to them and flung herself in Oliver's arm. "Oliver! Did you see that? I freaking graduated."

"Yeah I saw." Oliver laughed, hugging her back and then pushing her away to smile down at her. "I'm proud of you Sidekick." He said, unsure what made him call her sidekick but judging from the huge smile that spread across her face it was the right thing to say. "Now I've just got to take the bar exam and then I am officially a lawyer. Are you scared yet?"

"Not a chance." Oliver kissed the top her head and she blushed.

"Ok, we've got reservations at Mirabell in twenty minutes, so we need to leave like now." Chloe said grabbing Mia's arm and pulling her toward their car, leaving Oliver no choice but to follow.

He drives them to the restaurant and Chloe and Mia talk nonstop on the ride over about things he's pretty sure he should know about but doesn't and he's glad that they're so absorbed in the conversation that he wouldn't be able to get a word in edgewise even if he knew what to say.

He manages to fake his way through dinner pretty well, using generic answers to questions that confuse him and he's sure that he's got everyone fooled. Except for Chloe that is. As the night wears on, and Oliver gets increasingly more convinced that this is in fact not a dream, he can see that Chloe is realizing something is off, something's not quite right.

"Ok, ok, so I think it's time for Mia's graduation presents." Chloe called out once dinner was cleared and desert was on the way.

"I like presents." Mia smiled and rubbed her hands together. Lois and Clark gave her a really nice briefcase. Bart and AC went in together on a silver pen with matching business card holder. Victor gave her a new laptop. Courtney's gift was a brand new suit so she could look lawyer-ish and John presented her with a lovely wooden gavel with her name engraved on it.

"I'm just looking toward the future." He'd shrugged and Mia had given him a rather watery hug.

Then it was Chloe and Oliver's turn and Chloe turned him expectantly but Oliver was drawing a huge blank. "Right." Chloe jumped in for him. "So, here." She passed over a small bag and Mia opened it hesitantly. Oliver had joked the whole time that she was in school that he was going to take all the money Mia wasn't letting him spend on her tuition and use it to buy her a graduation present so she was a little surprised when she reached into the bag and pulled out a small key chain with a familiar set of keys dangling from it.

"This is a key to the Clock Tower." Mia said confused. "I already have a key to the Clock Tower." She reminded them.

"Yeah the key was sort of symbolic." Chloe shrugged.

"Symbolic of what?" Mia asked.

"We're giving you the Clock Tower." Chloe smiled.

Mia stared at her in shock. "You're what now?" She looked between Chloe and Oliver.

"Well we're going to be leaving at the end of the month for Star City and it'll just be sitting there empty so it was either sell it or give it to you."

"But what?" Mia was still slightly in shock.

"We can stay at the Watchtower when we come into town." Chloe assured her. "Mia, we want you to have it."

"Oliver?" She looked over at him and he smiled.

"You earned it." He shrugged and she smiled, actually crying this time as she gave Chloe and then Oliver huge hugs.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

They left the restaurant four hours later, full on good food and probably a bit too much wine and Chloe couldn't help but smile because the last time they all managed to get together like this was far too long ago. She knew when they moved to Star City it was going to be even harder and she made a mental note to _make_ the time. "Chloe." John said walking up beside her at the restaurant entrance where Oliver had left her to go get the car.

"John." Chloe smiled up at him. "I'm really glad you could make it tonight."

"I am too." John said. "I rather enjoyed myself."

"Good, I'm glad." Chloe nodded.

"I had such a good time that I almost hate to bring this up." John frowned and Chloe sighed, almost as if she knew this was coming. "Have you noticed anything off with Oliver recently?"

Chloe felt her mouth go dry. "Why do you ask?" Chloe looked up at him, her smile strained.

"I don't want to alarm you, but I was getting this strange feeling all through dinner. It was coming from Oliver." John said.

Everything that Chloe had been working so hard all day to ignore came flooding back to her in an instant. She thought about the look on Oliver's face that morning when she mentioned Mia's graduation, like he truly had no idea who she was talking about. She thought about how weird he'd been all day, some of the things he'd been saying, some of the things he hadn't said. Then she thought about earlier that morning, how he'd touched her and it had felt almost like it was the first time he'd ever touched her and she had to swallow hard to push back against the sudden swell of bile that was threatening to claw it's way out of her throat.

"Chloe, I'm sorry, but I don't think that man is your husband."

Chloe closed her eyes and a small tear escaped before she looked back up at John. "Yeah, I know." She said quietly.


	2. Chapter 2

"After watching Lois and Clark together tonight," Oliver pushed the elevator grate out of the way and held it open so Chloe could walk into the Clocktower ahead of him. "How did I not see it before?" he asked hanging his coat on the hook then reaching out toward Chloe for hers.

"Didn't see what before?" she asked him slowly shrugging out of her jacket, a frown on her face.

"Didn't see _them_," Oliver scoffed, sliding the jacket from Chloe's still hands. "I mean they're _Lois and Clark_ you know," he said their names like it was more of a label. "They just belong together."

"You were the best man at their wedding." Chloe turned around and walked toward the kitchen, her shoulders stiff, her voice stiffer. "And you're just now getting that?"

Oliver froze. "I was his best man?" Chloe looked at him over her shoulder, a sort of sad resigned look on her face. "I mean off course I was his best man." Oliver hurried to cover his mistake and Chloe turned back to the coffee pot.  
Oliver had realized somewhere between the graduation ceremony and the dessert course at the restaurant that this was obviously not a dream. He'd probably realized it long before then but he didn't want to admit it out loud because then it became a problem, something that he had to fix, something that would…end. After the hell he'd been through the past few days with Roulette and the hell he'd put himself through the past few months, this was nice, it was comfortable, it was easy. Most importantly it wasn't his life; his screwed up, shattered, rock bottom life and he was pretty sure he wasn't ready to go back there, not just yet.

He'd narrowed it down to two possibilities. One was that he had somehow traveled into the future. But there was no way that after everything that had happened between them he would end up married to Chloe Sullivan, no way that she would ever marry him, so he wasn't really sold on that. That left option number two, the one Oliver found much more likely; that he'd been sent into some sort of alternate reality. A world that was just like his except with just a few changes. Like in this world, he somehow ended up married to Chloe. He was sure the longer he stayed he'd probably find more differences, maybe in this universe the sun was red, or there was an inexplicable lack of ducks.

"I was thinking—" Oliver stopped as Chloe spun quickly, pulling from the cabinet above her head, not the can of coffee that he was expecting, but a small compact crossbow. Not just any crossbow either but one, if he was not mistaken, that he'd designed himself. Granted when he saw it last it was still just a sketch on a piece of paper, he hadn't even gotten around to building a prototype yet. He stamped down his curiosity at where she got it and why she kept it in the kitchen cabinet because it was currently loaded and aimed straight at Oliver's head.

"Don't move," she said, her voice firm and steely, her hand positively steady.

"Chloe?" Oliver looked at her confused.

She brought her free hand up and touched a finger to her ear. "I've got him secured in the kitchen," she said suddenly and Oliver felt a gush of wind at his back. He didn't turn his head because despite the past twenty or so hours, he knew without a doubt that this Chloe would shoot him if he made even the slightest movement.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw two people appear on either side of him. He darted his eyes left and then right and found himself standing in between John and Hal, both of them glaring daggers at him, both of them he suspected could probably break him in half with very little effort and yet it was Chloe who he was most worried about. "Chloe, what's going on?" Oliver asked, raising his hands in the air in defeat, she hadn't specifically told him to do that but he figured it was the best course of action at the moment.

"Why don't you tell me?" she said, her voice losing some of its sternness and he could hear a bit of panic set in. "Who the hell are you and what have you done with my husband?"

Oliver blinked in confusion. "I'm Oliver Queen," he said to her seriously, honestly. Faster than he thought she could move the crossbow was lowered and her left fist came out of nowhere, slamming into his jaw with such force that he actually stumbled back. Then she was there, right in front of him, the tip of the arrow loaded into the crossbow digging into the bottom of his chin, pushing against him, forcing him to stand back up.

"You are not Oliver Queen, where is he?" Chloe asked, her voice now shaking with unspent anger.

"I _am_ Oliver Queen," Oliver protested desperately.

He saw her fist coming this time but it never made contact. He looked confused until he saw Hal holding her wrist in a firm grip. "Chloe, you need to calm down."

"Calm down?" Chloe said turning her glare on Hal. "He's been in my house, he's been in my bed." Her voice trembled. "He's been…" she trailed off but Oliver could practically hear the unspoken accusation; '_He's been in me'_

She yanked her wrist away from Hal and took two steps back, collapsing in on herself as the crossbow clattered to the ground. She gripped her knees, breathing deeply in and then out and Hal stepped over to rub her back soothingly. She shrugged him off but he didn't look offended, just stepped back to stand at Oliver's side while she composed herself.

Chloe lifted her head up and stared at Oliver, all fear gone, nothing but hot burning rage staring back at him. "Where is Oliver Queen?" she asked. "Where is my husband?" The last question was almost a whisper, a chilly, terrifying whisper and Oliver had to swallow a few times before he managed to actually answer her.

"I swear, Chloe, I am Oliver Queen." He took a step toward her but then John was right in front of him, solidly blocking his path.

"Fine, you're Oliver Queen. When did we get married?" Chloe asked and his entire face went blank.

"I don't know," he said, looking from Chloe to the two guys at his side. "I mean... but does any guy remember his wedding anniversary?"

"No, normally no," Hal piped up. "But in this case, no one could forget that day," Hal paused and tilted his head. "Except, well, I mean, from the stories I've heard, apparently _everyone_ forgot it but see that's exactly why you wouldn't have forgotten about it."

"What does that mean?" Oliver frowned over at Chloe but her expression hadn't changed.

"What was the first thing you did when you got off the island? When you got back to the States, before going to the hospital or the police, what was the first thing you did?" Chloe asked him intently and Oliver froze, unsure of what to say here. He hadn't actually been asked this question in years and there was always the go to answer that he gave all the interviewers after it had happened, that he'd treated himself to a big juicy cheeseburger but that was a lie. Even though he'd never told anyone and Mercy only knew the truth because she'd been with him, he just knew Chloe would know.

"I visited my parent's grave." Oliver swallowed hard. "To apologize."

"For what?" Chloe asked, still glaring at him.

"For being such a fuck up," he said honestly. "For almost running their company into the ground, for letting them down."

"What really happened to Lex Luthor?" she asked him, her tone a bit softer but her eyes just as hard.

His first instinct again was to lie, to lay the blame on the Toyman-the story that was printed in the paper, the story that everyone believed, but he knew he had to tell the truth. "I killed him," Oliver said swallowing hard. It was the first time he'd actually admitted to it out loud, said the words. "I murdered him in cold blood."

Chloe's eyes softened a bit this time and she took a step closer to him. "What did you say to me at Jimmy's funeral?" Chloe asked, her voice soft and calm.

Oliver closed his eyes, the memory of that day was still extremely painful for him and the shame of what he'd said to Chloe just made it even more raw, especially after his encounter with Roulette. "I said…" he licked his lips, they were suddenly far too dry and his eyes flew open. He made sure to look Chloe right in the eyes, which is more than he'd done that day. He'd never even bothered to take off his sunglasses.

_He watched as Chloe hung Jimmy's camera over the neck of the little boy Oliver assumed was Jimmy's little brother and then Dinah pulled her away, Bart trailing a few feet behind Chloe, just like he always was. She stopped and looked around the cemetery, searching for Clark, he assumed but finding his gaze instead. She patted Dinah's arm and whispered something that made Canary nod and walked away. Bart hung back for a minute before Chloe said something that convinced him it was okay to leave her alone. _

_She walked through the grass, her eyes never leaving his face and he wanted nothing more than to turn and walk away, to save him and her from the inevitable confirmation but he couldn't walk away from a grieving woman, he wasn't that heartless. But if she wanted this then she was going to have to come to him, he wasn't going to meet her halfway. Her cheeks were tear stained, but she wasn't hysterical. Oliver worried that she would have been more hysterical. "Oliver?" she whispered when she finally got to him. Her hands were wringing the straps of her bag nervously and he said nothing to her. "I didn't see you at the church." _

"_I skipped that part," Oliver said. "I haven't been in a church in a while." _

_That seemed to piss her off. Her jaw set and her stance became rigid. "Then why even bother coming here?"_

"_Jimmy was my friend," he reminded her. _

"_Right." Chloe nodded softening slightly and he could see it, just behind her eyes, the hysteria that he was worried about, the kind that could consumed a person, and he realized that a minute before, when she'd been pissed at him, it had disappeared. So he did the only thing he thought he could do, he made her angry again. _

"_What are you doing here?" he asked and she jerked slightly as if she'd been stung. _

"_He was my husband," she reminded him. _

"_Ex-husband if I recall, you choose his murderer over him, remember?" Oliver saw the slap coming but he didn't bother to stop it, he deserved it, he deserved so much more. _

_"I loved him," Chloe whispered. _

"_You had a funny way of showing it." He told her. "Look Chloe, you can play the grieving widow all you want but we both know that you had just as big a part in Jimmy's death as I did and we're going to have to live with that for the rest of our lives. Tell yourself you loved him, tell yourself that you were trying to do what was best for him, what was best for everyone, but it doesn't change the fact that he's dead and it's our fault." He closed his eyes then, waiting for the second slap but it never came. When he opened his eyes again he saw her walking away from him, her back straight and rigid, her muscles so taught that he could see the sobs rocking her body. _

_Bart stepped up immediately, supporting her as they headed to the car and he looked over Chloe's shoulder at Oliver, glaring at him. Oliver could try to explain but Bart would never understand. He'd never understand that Chloe didn't need to be sad right now, she needed to be angry, she needed to be furious and she needed someone other than Jimmy and Davis to be furious with, since Clark had vanished into the wind, it fell to Oliver to carry that burden. Considering he never imagined he'd see her again, it wasn't that big a deal._

"Dude," Hal said from beside them and Oliver didn't need some guy who didn't even know him to tell him what an ass he was. He opened his mouth to defend himself but he didn't get the chance.

"Shut up." Chloe turned her ire back on Oliver and he instantly shut his mouth. "You know things only Oliver would know."

"Because I am Oliver," he insisted and she nodded.

"Well there is one way to find out." She reached forward quickly and he winced when her hand shot out. But she didn't hit him again, instead she simply slid her finger up under his chin. When she pulled her hand back there was blood smeared on her finger, his blood, from where the arrowhead at sliced into him.

Oliver watched as she pulled something out of her pocket that looked like a phone but was obviously not a phone when Chloe wiped the blood onto the screen. It beeped a second later and she frowned down at the device and then looked over to John. "It's him," she said dumbfounded. "He's Oliver."

"That's what I've been saying." Oliver sighed.

"But you're not _my_ Oliver," Chloe said and she didn't sound angry anymore, she just sounded defeated.

"No, I don't think I am." Oliver shook his head.

"Then where did you come from?" Chloe asked him.

"I've been working on a theory," Oliver said. "Do you guys have ducks in this world?"

Chloe narrowed her eyes at him, ready to ask what the hell ducks had to do with anything.

"I think, we might be dealing with time travel here," John said.

"Really?" Hal perked up. "What makes you think that?"

John smiled, reaching for an almost forgotten memory. They'd just met the Justice Society and there was a very heated debate going on about whether the older group was trustworthy or not. John was still getting used to having his powers back when Oliver had called a halt to the all the screaming and said that as much as he personally thought that Carter was a jack-ass they were good people, trustworthy people and as much as it pained him to admit it, he thought they could learn a lot from the Justice Society. Everyone else had simply taken that at face value, if Oliver trusted them then that was all they needed to know.

"_You seem awfully confident about people that we've literally just met, including a man who just threw you through a window," John pointed out. _

"_They're good guys, John, they want the same things we do," Oliver said. _

"_You speak as if you know something about this that the rest of us don't." John narrowed his eyes at the other man. _

"_Because I do." Oliver shrugged. _

"_Something that you can't share with us?" John frowned. _

"_You just have to trust me." Oliver clapped him on the back. "One day this will all make sense." John nodded as Oliver walked away. _

"May I?" John held out his hand toward Oliver who just nodded in confusion, not really sure what the Martian was asking him for. His hand clapped on Oliver's shoulder and he felt a jolt shoot straight through his body, like he'd been shocked and he jumped away a bit. "What is the last thing you remember before you came to be in this place?"

"Uh, falling into bed and passing out," Oliver said and they all stared at him, obviously needing a bit more than that. "There was this whole crazy thing with a woman who called herself Roulette," he explained.

"That was almost ten years ago," Chloe said her eyes widening.

"I am almost certain we're dealing with time travel here," John said. "I think that while this may be the body of your Oliver, inside is an Oliver from ten years ago. I think he's literally been yanked out of his time and inserted into ours."

"Where is my Oliver?" Chloe asked.

John frowned at her and shook his head. "I don't know."

"Okay, so who could have done this and why?" Hal asked, already in crisis mode as he started to pace. He stopped and turned to John. "Time travel huh? Do you think it was Hunter?"

"That's certainly a possibility. He has the technology." John nodded thoughtfully. "But why?"

"Who is Hunter?" Oliver frowned, the name unfamiliar to him.

"Rip Hunter," Chloe explained to him. "He's a scientist, invented this thing called the 'Time Sphere'. It lets him travel through time. Initially he just used it for fun but then he started thinking that he maybe he could change things, make things better."

"Thinking like that never ends well." Oliver shook his head.

"No, it didn't," Chloe said but didn't bother to elaborate. "We've got him in suspended animation," Chloe reminded Hal.

"Didn't stop him before."

Chloe nodded. "You can reactive him, ask him if he knows anything," Chloe said. "Ten minutes Hal, that's it and you follow all the protocols exactly."

"I'll go with you," John offered and Hal nodded his thanks.

"In the morning OK?" Chloe said. "I'm tired and we're not going to solve this tonight."

"What about him?" Hal looked over at Oliver distrustfully.

"He's going to stay here," Chloe said and Hal obviously didn't like that one bit. "He's not some criminal mastermind Hal, he's my husband. Sort of. Look, if he goes anywhere else someone will find out and I'd like to keep this between us for as long as we can, until we have some concrete evidence. Who knows maybe we can solve this thing and we won't have to tell anyone else."

"I'll see you in the morning," John said dropping a kiss to Chloe's forehead before walking to the elevator to wait for Hal.

"Chloe…" Hal started to protest. "If Oliver knew I left you alone with this guy…"

"He is Oliver," Chloe reminded him. "He's not going to get mad at you for leaving me alone with himself."

Hal spared Oliver another look and then turned back to Chloe. "Look, Ollie's my best friend and quite possibly the greatest guy I've ever known but you and I both know that he wasn't always like that." Oliver winced at the truth of those words. "Ten years ago? He's told me who he was ten years ago. He hated who he was ten years ago." Oliver didn't bother to protest because it was all true.

Chloe smiled up at Hal almost indulgently and shook her head. "Even at his worst, Oliver would never do anything to hurt me," she assured him. "Even when his face was in the gutter, he still had the hero in his heart."

Oliver's stomach twisted at her words. He was stunned; absolutely stunned that after everything he'd done she still had that much faith in him. "That being said, he's sleeping on the couch."

"That's my girl." Hal smiled at her, dropping his own kiss to her forehead before walking himself to the elevator where John was waiting.

Five minutes later it was just Chloe and Oliver standing in the middle of the clock tower staring at each other. Oliver opened his mouth to say something, anything but Chloe simply turned and walked away.

"Okay," Oliver whispered to himself, sliding his hands in his pockets and wondering what the hell he was supposed to do now.

Chloe walked back in the room a minute later holding out a first aid kit to him. "For your chin," she said and that's when Oliver remember the cut and the blood.

"Right." Oliver took the kit and nodded.

"The bathroom is through the bedroom," Chloe offered and he smiled and nodded.

"I remember, Oliver assured her.

"Of course you do, from this morning," Chloe said, blushing at the memory of that morning.

"That, and the two years I lived here before." Oliver smiled and Chloe let out a small laugh.

"Right." She blushed again and Oliver headed into the bathroom.

He closed the door behind him and set the first aid kit on the counter before he gripped the edge of the sink and leaned over, allowing himself to take a deep breath. He needed a minute, just one or two to take in everything, all the revelations from the past hour or so. He was in the future, _his_ future, a future where he was married to Chloe, a future where he had friends that seemed more like a family, a future that didn't look nearly as bleak as the past he'd just left behind. He looked up into the mirror and it was so obvious now. The graying at his temples, the lines around his eyes and mouth, he was older, ten years older and he was still here, he was still alive and doing pretty well for himself.

He laughed. He couldn't help it, he laughed hard, doubling over with the weight of it as the laughter shook his body. He was going to be alright, this world, this time, was irrefutable proof of that. Victoria had shown him that he wanted to get better but this, this had shown him that he would get better and that was even more important.

"Ollie?" Chloe asked from the other side of the door, her voice a bit worried. "Are you okay in there?"

He forced himself to suck in the laughter and stand up straighter. "I'm fine," he assured her and for the first time he meant it. "I'll be out in a minute."

He heard her soft steps moving away from the bathroom and he opened the first aid kit, cleaning his chin and putting a small butterfly bandage on it just to hold it closed long enough to scab over. When he walked out of the bathroom there was a pair of sleep pants folded up neatly on the edge of the bed and he stripped out of his suit and pulled them on before padding into the living room.

Chloe already had the sofa bed pulled out and was struggling to get the sheet on. "Here," Oliver said grabbing one corner of the sheet and pulling it over the lumpy mattress. He winced thinking about sleeping there, he'd bought this couch over ten years ago, no way it was as comfortable as the mattress in the bedroom. It certainly wasn't going to have Chloe in it, all nice and warm against him. He snapped himself out of those thoughts and finished tucking the sheet under.

"I brought you your pillow and a few blankets," Chloe said, for some reason unable to look up at him.

"Thanks." Oliver nodded and he didn't understand how this was so awkward, how they were so awkward now, especially after everything they'd done that morning and then he stopped and realized that maybe that had everything to do with why things were so awkward.

As if reading his mind Chloe spoke up. "Why didn't you stop me?" she asked him.

"What?" Oliver frowned as he crawled onto the mattress, wincing as the springs dug into his knees, it was just as bad as he thought it would be.

"Well, you're from 2009," Chloe said and Oliver looked at her confused. "The whole Roulette thing was in 2009." Oliver nodded. "We weren't together in 2009."

"No." Oliver shook his head.

"So then this morning…why didn't you stop me?" Chloe asked. "Why were you so accepting about?"

Oliver knew what she wanted to ask, why was he so eager. "Look, I thought it was a dream and I was just going with it."

"It didn't faze you at all," Chloe said with a small smirk. "Did you dream about me often back then in 2009?"

"You had your fair share of staring rolls," Oliver said feeling his face start to redden for the first time that night.

"We were hardly even friends," Chloe reminded him.

"Yeah well you're a hot girl and I'm a guy. Friends doesn't have anything to do with it." Oliver smirked.

"Right." Chloe took a deep breath and headed for the bedroom. "You know where everything is, if you need anything just let me know. Sleep tight."

Oliver nodded and watched her walk back to the bedroom, her steps a little slow, almost as if she was dreading going in there and then he got it, she was dreading going in there alone. "Hey Chloe?" he called out and she turned around. "We're going to figure this out. _I'm_ going to get your husband back."

"I know," Chloe said. "I've never doubted you before, why would I start now?" she asked then closed the door behind her and Oliver smiled.

Oliver woke up slowly the next morning, afraid for a second to open his eyes, afraid that he'd find himself back in his bed at the Clock Tower, back in 2009. He shifted a bit and felt an errant spring dig into his shoulder blade and couldn't help but smile at the fact that he was still in 2019, still on the couch and then he frowned because while he was still on the couch, he was on the couch alone.

He closed his eyes and couldn't help remembering how he'd woken up the day before, Chloe's soft warm body curled around his, soft kisses trailing up his chest and he groaned, shoving the covers off and sitting up. With thoughts of Chloe's pale skin sliding against his there was no way he was going to get back to sleep now.

He folded up all the sheets and blankets and put the couch back together and when he finished all that Chloe was still asleep so he wandered into the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. He was surprised to find that the kitchen at least looked exactly the way it had ten years ago. After he knew to look for the signs of Chloe were sprinkled all over the loft, her pictures up on the bookshelves, the soft blankets thrown over the edge of the couch, but as far as he could tell absolutely nothing had changed in the kitchen.

He opened the cabinet above the coffee pot where he used to keep the coffee but it wasn't there, instead it was filled with coffee cups, tons and tons of coffee cups. "But where is the coffee?" Oliver mused, opening cabinet after cabinet but he kept coming up empty. He might not have been married to Chloe in 2009 but he knew her well enough to know that there was no way she lived in a house with no coffee.

As a last resort he opened up the fridge. There was the usual fridge stuff, butter some fresh fruit and lots of take out containers. Then he opened the freezer and hit pay dirt. He stared in astonishment. He'd expected to find some frozen dinners, maybe some ice cream but the entire freezer was packed, every available inch of space, with coffee.

Oliver was pretty sure that Starbucks didn't even have this much coffee in their store room, he didn't even realize there were this many different varieties of coffee in the world. The whole thing was a bit overwhelming, he had no idea which one Chloe might want, there were too many to choose from he didn't even know where to start.  
There was Light Cinnamon, Cinnamon, New England, American, City, Full City, Light French, French, and Italian and those were just the different types of roasts. Then came the flavors, Chocolate, White Chocolate, White Chocolate and Raspberry, Cinnamon, Vanilla, French Vanilla, Amaretto, Irish Crème, it was just too much. Oliver closed his eyes, reached out his hand and picked one at random, Nutmeg Spice.

He shrugged, figuring it would probably do and walked back over to the coffee pot. He opened the bag and then froze, it wasn't ground, the beans were whole. "Crap." He sighed, then vaguely remembered seeing a coffee grinder somewhere and went back through all of the cabinets, searching.

When he finally found what he was looking for he plugged it in and then stared at it. He'd never used a coffee grinder before in his life but he was pretty sure that it couldn't be that hard. He poured some coffee beans in, put the top back on and then pushed the start button. Nothing happened. He pushed the button again and still nothing happened. He opened the lid, shook the beans around and then put the lid back on. He twisted it a bit and heard it click into place and pushed the button again. The grinder roared to life and it was about ten times louder than Oliver had imagined it would be. Surprised he jabbed at the button, trying to turn it off but it wouldn't, the button was stuck.

Oliver looked around frantically, trying to figure out what the hell to do when he noticed smoke pouring out of the top of it. "Shit, shit, shit!" Oliver ran his fingers through his hair and started jabbing at the button again, desperate to turn it off as more smoke poured out of the back.

Then he heard it, a low giggle. He turned around and saw Chloe, leaning up against the cabinet, a soft coy smile on her face as she watched him. "Having a bit of trouble?" she asked and he dropped his hands to his side in defeat. She pushed herself off the cabinet and walked over, reaching behind him and unplugging the coffee grinder.  
"Well, I could have done that," Oliver said and Chloe laughed.

"You put too many beans in, it overloaded the motor." She looked at the coffee grinder sighed before just dumping the whole thing into the trash can. "What exactly were you trying to do?"

"I just wanted to make you a pot of coffee," Oliver said sheepishly and Chloe smiled wider, reaching behind him again to push a button on the coffee pot. He heard coffee drip into the pot and raised his eyebrows.

"I set it up at night before I go to bed."

"Good to know," Oliver said. "I'll buy you another grinder."

"It's fine." She shrugged.

When there was enough coffee in pot Chloe poured herself a cup, pulled herself up onto the counter opposite him and Oliver just stood there and watched her. Her bare legs were swinging back and forth, her heels tapping silently against the cabinet door. He'd never really had an opportunity to study her legs before, most of the time when he saw her she was in jeans or pants. He followed the bare expanse of skin from her ankle up to her thigh, for someone so short, her legs were surprisingly long. The shirt she was wearing was a bit large on her, hitting her just at the top of her thighs and he could tell that she wasn't wearing any shorts underneath.

"Is that my shirt?" he asked, blushing as he remembered asking her the same question the day before, remembering the position they were in when he'd asked her that.

"It was…" she blushed, playing with the hem and then looked up at him sheepishly. "It smells like him…you…him…" she corrected herself, slightly embarrassed.

"I get it," Oliver swallowed thickly. She missed her husband and that thought hit him hard, because he was pretty sure no one had ever missed him that much. Suddenly he felt jealous of himself which was a really weird feeling all things considered.

Her eyes closed, her fingers curling around the coffee mug as she took a deep breath and he allowed himself to finish his study of her. Her hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun, tendrils falling around her face haphazardly. It was strange, he was so used to seeing her with short hair but he liked this, he could imagine himself reaching out and grabbing a piece of it, twirling it around his finger. "I like your hair," he blurted out unable to stop himself and her eyes flew open confused.

"I'm sure it looks like a mess," she said, another blush rising to her cheeks as she set the coffee cup down and attempted to get it under control.

"Well yeah, it's sort of all over the place." Oliver smirked and she glared at him playfully before shooting out her foot and nudging his hip with her toe. He laughed and she stuck out her tongue. "I mean, I like it long. It's a little softer like this." He reached out and grabbed one of the stray strands and let it slide through his fingers before tucking it behind her ear and she ducked her head. "It suits you," he whispered.

It wasn't until she looked up and she was right there that he'd even realized he'd moved closer to her. "I grew it out for you," she said, almost as if she were embarrassed to admit it. "We were in bed one night and you were playing with the ends of my hair and you said casually that you thought I would look good with long hair. I'd worn it short for as long as I could remember but after that I just sort of let it go. It gets in the way sometimes and it can get a bit hot in the summer but I like it better this way."

"I do too," Oliver said, his voice still a slight whisper. He couldn't help but picture her then, from the day before, laid out underneath him, her hair wild and mussed, splayed across the pillow, framing her face as she bit her lip and moaned in pleasure.

"Oliver." Chloe's voice was a low whisper now too, practically pleading with him and he opened his eyes, not even realizing he'd closed them. He was standing in between her legs, his hands on either side of her hips, his head bent low, his lips hovering over hers, all he had to do was push forward, just a bit and he'd be kissing her and right now at this moment in time, he could think of nothing he wanted to do more than kiss her. He tried to move forward, to close the distance between them but he couldn't.

"Oliver," Chloe said again and he could hear the note of pleading in her voice still but she wasn't pleading with him to kiss her. He looked down and noticed that her hand was splayed across his chest, hard and firm, pushing him away.

"God," Oliver groaned and took a few steps away from her until his back hit the edge of the opposite counter. "I am so sorry." He ran his hand through his hair. "I didn't mean, God that was so inappropriate, I wasn't thinking…"

"It's fine," Chloe whispered, her voice tight. "_I'm_ sorry." She slid off the counter. "I wasn't thinking and…" She looked up at him yet another blush creeping up to her cheeks. "You look exactly like him." She turned then suddenly and practically ran into the bedroom closing the door behind her.

Oliver felt all the blood drain from his face and he felt like hitting himself. He _should_ hit himself, or someone else should hit him at least. For all intents and purposes the woman in that room had just lost her husband and here he was, looking exactly like her husband, trying to kiss her. He was an ass, he was worse than an ass.

The bedroom door opened and Chloe came back out, her hair brushed and pulled back into a tight, neat French twist. She'd changed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, one of her own this time and pair of black boots. She'd put just a bit of make-up on, some lip gloss and mascara and she looked perfect and he wanted to kiss her again which made him want to hit himself again.

"You should probably shower now." Chloe told him as she freshened up her coffee and it was obvious that she was looking anywhere but at him. "Hal and John will be here soon."

"Right." Oliver nodded. "Chloe…"

"You can just raid the closet, wear whatever you want, they're technically yours," she said.

"Chloe," he called out and she looked up at him then. "I'm sorry about earlier. That was really shitty of me."

"It's a weird situation." She shrugged. "We're bound to have a few confusing moments until we get this sorted out."  
"Right." Oliver nodded. She was letting him off the hook which was a lot more than he deserved but he was going to take it. "I'll be right out."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

He took another cold shower that day and wondered for a second when he'd ever get another warm shower, probably not until he got back to his own time. When he got out he grabbed a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, throwing them on hastily. When he walked out of the bedroom he could hear muffled voices coming from his secret room behind the clock.

He wasn't exactly ready to face Chloe just yet and he was almost sure that if he looked at Hal, the other man would be able to read the guilt on his face. He took a deep breath and walked into the living room, taking a minute to himself before he spent the day trying to figure out how to go back to a time he wasn't sure he wanted to go back to.

He went over to the bookshelf and started looking at all the new pictures that had been put up in the past ten years. The first one was obviously taken not too long ago. It was a noticeably less pregnant Tess holding up the tiniest little pink dress in the world, surrounded by presents, Chloe at her side a pen and pad in her lap. This must have been Tess' baby shower. He stared at Chloe then, her smile seemed just a bit off as she looked at the tiny article of clothing. She was happy for Tess, that much was painfully obvious but there was something else there, a sadness, a tiredness in her eyes and it reminded him of the day before of Tess telling Chloe, _When it's meant to be_…

Chloe wanted a baby but for some reason they weren't having a baby. He wanted to ask her what was going on but it felt like a far too personal question, even to ask his future wife. He moved to the next picture, Tess and Emil's wedding by the looks of it. Then there was one of Chloe standing next to the hospital bed of an obviously exhausted Lois who was holding against her chest two tiny little bundles of joy. No wonder Chloe had baby fever, it appeared that everyone around her was popping them out left and right.

He moved to the next picture, Lois and Clark's wedding. He was standing next to Clark as the best man, Chloe next to her cousin as the maid of honor and they were smiling at each other over bride and groom's head, a secret little smile and Oliver felt that surge of jealousy again. He wanted to know that secret, wanted to have that secret with Chloe.

"That was taken right before all hell broke loose," Chloe said from over his shoulder.

"Really?" Oliver raised his eyebrows.

"I told Lois that it was a mistake, inviting the head of the VRA to a wedding full of masked vigilantes but he is her father so what can you do?" Chloe shrugged. Oliver just nodded, he had no idea what the VRA was and what it had to do with General Lane or Lois' wedding but Chloe was smiling at him now so he wasn't going to question it.

"What's with the look?" Oliver asked her.

"What look?" Chloe asked him confused.

"That look," Oliver pointed to her face in the picture and she smiled.

"No one knew we were married yet," Chloe smiled at the memory. "It was still a little new to us and it wasn't exactly planned. We didn't want to steal Lois thunder so we'd made the decision to keep the whole thing quiet until after her wedding."

"It wasn't exactly planned?" Oliver frowned. "No one knew we were married? We didn't have a big wedding?"

He'd always imagined that he'd have this big wedding, huge actually, not that he necessarily wanted a big wedding but he was Oliver Queen, he figured it just came with the territory.

Chloe laughed, unable to stop herself. She reached across from him a little and grabbed another picture off the bookshelf and handed it to him. He looked down and just stared at it for a second, unsure exactly what he was supposed to be looking at. There was Chloe, standing there a huge blinding smile on her face dressed like Madonna from the Like a Virgin album cover. He was standing next to her, his smile just as blinding, Chloe's hand on the arm of his lime green tuxedo jacket. Lois was beside Chloe, a leopard print dress on and her own bridal veil balanced precariously on her head. Tess was next to her, shooting a heated glance at Emil who was standing behind him. Clark was at his side, a goofy grin on his face and what looked like a lemur perched on his shoulder. "What exactly am I looking at here?" Oliver asked with a laugh.

"Our wedding picture," Chloe said, amusement evident in her voice.

"This was our wedding?" Oliver laughed out loud. "I don't understand."

"Well the evening started out as Lois and Clark's bachelor party and after a charmed bottle of champagne courtesy of Zatanna the evening sort of got out of hand. We're all still a little fuzzy on the details but at some point we decided that it would be an excellent idea to get married."

"And how does the lemur factor into all this?"

"Ah," Chloe said. "You mean Dr. Lemur." Chloe put the picture back on the mantel. "He was the ring bearer. We rescued him from a robbery in progress. He's at the San Francisco Zoo now. We go visit him occasionally."  
He laughed, trying to wrap his head around the whole thing. He and Chloe had gotten married on a whim, at Clark and Lois' Bachelor/Bachelorette party, apparently drunk off their asses. It sounded disastrous and yet they'd lasted, almost ten years.

"I wouldn't have had it any other way," Chloe said almost as if she could read his mind. "I'd been dragging my feet, I could barely admit to myself how much I loved you, admitting it to you was like pulling teeth. I was so afraid, afraid of losing it all, afraid of losing you and if I was honest about my feelings then it would just hurt all that much more but then suddenly we were married. And the whole thing was ridiculous and unplanned and no one would have blamed you for backing out, but you said you didn't want to back out, you were in this thing for the long haul.

You'd been telling me that from day one but I think it wasn't until then that I really understood it. Ten years later and here we are."

"Chloe?" They both turned to see Hal standing in the kitchen staring at them. "Any chance you've got more of those Danishes?"

"Yeah, hold on." Chloe pushed past Oliver. "Isn't this like your fifth one?"

"But they're so good," Hal moaned as she reached into the bottom drawer of the oven and pulled out a plate full of pastries.

Oliver walked over to join them and Hal shot him a glare that Oliver knew he deserved and yet at the same time he felt was a bit overkill. "You baked these?" Oliver asked picking up one of the pastries up to study it. He had a sudden image of Chloe standing beside the stove wearing an apron and pearls, playing the perfect little Suzi homemaker. It seemed completely wrong for Chloe and at the same time insanely hot.

Hal laughed hard, his mouth so full of Danish he almost choked. Chloe glared at him but still walked over and clapped him on the back until he managed to swallow. "Sorry," Hal coughed a bit more as Chloe handed him a cup of coffee. "That's just one of the funniest things I've heard all week, Chloe baking." Hal shook his head and Chloe glared again.

"So you don't bake?" Oliver asked.

"I have these delivered every morning from a local bakery. The last time I cooked, the fire department was called," Chloe said sheepishly, punching Hal lightly on the arm when he laughed again. "After that you had someone come in. They said it was the first time they'd been asked to un-hook up a stove," she smiled slightly. "But the warming drawer still works which comes in handy for keeping the take out warm."

"Chloe, baking," Hal laughed again and this time when Chloe punched him Oliver could tell that she put a bit more force behind it. The other man stumbled back a few paces and then rubbed at his arm.

"We get it, I can't cook," Chloe said. "Aren't you supposed to be doing something productive right now?"  
Hal nodded, still rubbing his arm as he walked back into the secret room. "I like take out," Oliver offered trying to make her feel a bit better and she smiled at him.

"I know," she assured him. "It's just sometimes I think it would be nice to make a home cooked meal for my husband." Oliver didn't say anything and she looked over at him hesitantly. "I'm taking lessons you know. Cooking lessons. I wanted to surprise you…him…you…"

"How's it going?" Oliver asked, letting her off the hook, finding the proper pronoun in a situation like this could be very confusing. "The cooking lessons?"

"Not very good." Chloe wrinkled her nose. "There was an incident, involving hot oil, an ambulance was called. The instructor should be back to full health in a few months. That reminds me, I need to send him some flowers at the hospital." Chloe turned and headed back to the secret room.

Oliver followed her in there and stopped to take in the changes to this room. He'd expected that she would have added her touch in here like she did the rest of the apartment. Only there weren't any soft blankets or candles or throw pillows in here for which he was very grateful, instead the entire room had received a serious tech upgrade. "Holy crap," Oliver said looking around.

There were huge plasma monitors covering the walls, surrounding a large table in the middle of the room that appeared to be one very large touch screen computer. He'd seen technology like that in his time but this one was bigger and sharper. Chloe asked John something and he tapped a finger on a specific tile and then pushed it to the side. Oliver watched as the file that had been open on the table flew onto the clear glass divider wall. Chloe moved it into the center of the wall and did a little twirl thing with her wrist which opened like five more files. She shot something back to John who tapped it and then suddenly there was a three dimensional holographic projection of three people, floating above the center table.

"I guess when you see this stuff for the first time it is pretty cool," Hal said from beside Oliver.

"Yeah." Oliver watched as Chloe expertly sorted through files and pictures. "It's pretty amazing."

"She designed most of this stuff herself," Hal explained. Oliver raised his eyebrows, he'd known Chloe was sort of a tech genius but he didn't realize how much. "But seriously man." Hal grabbed his arm. "Don't let her near a stove, or a microwave, or even like a grill or open flame come to think of it," Hal got a faraway look in his eye. "That was a very painful camping trip, I haven't been able to eat a marshmallow since. Just keep her away from anything that could possibly be used to heat something up." Hal clapped him on the back.

Oliver laughed and look at the other man and for the first time he could see how his older self and Hal would form a

friendship. "Is this a moment that we're having here?" Oliver asked.

"Dude, don't get all sentimental on me," Hal squeezed his shoulder. "It's just, we've been going over all the possibilities that we could think of and it looks like you might be here for a little while longer so there are some things that you might need to learn to get by in this time period."

"I appreciate that." Oliver said.

"Yeah well in five years your time, you're gonna be my best friend," Hal said. "And when you get back, the future you, or well my present you, he'd probably kick my ass in retaliation for anything I did to past you so whatever." Oliver nodded in understanding, as best as he could understand anyway. "Just, like you're my best friend, Ollie," Hal tightened his grip on Oliver's shoulder, "But if you do anything to Chloe, and I mean anything, I will not hesitate to publicly castrate you. Because honestly, man, she is like one of the best people I've ever met, on this planet or any other, and I would do anything to make sure she is happy. So make her happy." Hal walked over to Chloe and nudged her hip with his. She ignored him and he did it again a few more times until she offered him a small smile out of the corner of her mouth. He whispered something in her ear and she laughed outright before handing him a large stack of files.

"Should I be worried about him?" Oliver asked when he felt John walk up beside him.

"Hal?" John looked over at where he was saying something to Chloe who had her hand over her mouth to hold in her laughter. "In what way?"

"In a Chloe way," Oliver said.

John suddenly understood what Oliver was trying to and managed to somehow contain his own laughter. "Hal and Chloe are close but it is certainly nothing you need to worry about. She helped him through a very hard time and he sees it as his mission in life to protect her and keep her happy. It's one of the things that makes your friendship so strong." Oliver was still glaring daggers at Hal. "He would never do anything to jeopardize that friendship. Oliver and Chloe would never…the two of you have one of the strongest connections I've ever seen. Even if you don't trust him, trust in Chloe, trust in that connection."

Oliver shook his head and turned to the Martian. "So Hal mentioned something about me being here for a while? You guys didn't have any luck figuring out what's going on with my situation?"

"Going on the assumption that someone wanted our Oliver out of the way, we've checked into everyone who might want that to happen and none of them have the power to do it." John walked over to the table with the spinning holograms. "Those that have the power, have no reason to want our Oliver gone."

"What about that guy you were talking about last night? Hunter?"

"Yeah, we went and saw him this morning. He was not very helpful. He said that he doesn't remember shoving Oliver through time at any point in his past, but that he has no foreknowledge of what his future self might do, should he ever escape from the suspended animation. Though he did say that he figured his future self would be more concerned about breaking his present self out of jail then messing around with Oliver Queen." Hal frowned.

"Time travel is confusing."

"What if it's not about having your Oliver gone." Oliver frowned. "What if it's about having me gone from my time?"

"You might be onto something actually," Chloe said walking over. "Let's see 2009, we were worried about the Kandorians but they couldn't have done this unless…" She looked at Oliver. "No one gave you a weird ring did they?" she asked and Oliver was confused for a second and then he remembered the Legion ring that Chloe had said sent Lois into the future.

"No new and unusual jewelry." Oliver held up his hands and noticed for the second time the wedding band on his left ring finger. Chloe's eyes clouded for a second and he lowered his hand in a hurry.

"Uh, okay, well we were barely a blimp on the VRA's radar, Checkmate was around but something like this isn't really their style, same for the Suicide Squad."

"I don't know what any of those things are." Oliver shook his head. Chloe and John exchanged a look. "What?"

"We just…don't know how much to tell you here," Chloe explained. "We don't want to tell you too much that kind of information could be dangerous when you get back to your time."

"But there are some things I'm going to need to know," Oliver pointed out. "Otherwise I won't be able to help you. Plus it's going to be pretty obvious that something's going on when I don't know anyone's names or faces or really anything."

"I know and it's just going harder when we get back to Star City." Chloe hung her head. "At least here you've got Lois and Clark and the guys. You know them, you could be forgiven for be a bit fuzzy on the details but all the guys in Star City are new, well new to you anyway. Except for Bart."

"Bart moved to Star City?" Oliver frowned then shook his head. "_You_ moved to Star City, of course Bart followed. So am I going to get a crash course on the past ten years or not?"

Chloe and John exchanged another look and Chloe sighed. "Okay, but just the bare bones, no details unless they're pertinent."

"I can handle that," Oliver said.

Four hours later Oliver was staring at the holographic projection table letting everything Chloe had told him sink in. "You okay there?" Chloe asked him.

"I'm fine." Oliver said. "Just a bit of information overload."

"Yeah, I never really realized how much stuff goes on in our lives," Chloe frowned. "When you lay it all out on the table like that it sort of sounds like a lame sci-fi show. So did anything in there sound familiar, anything that you think might be connected to your jump through time?"

"No." Oliver shook his head. "But look, I mean the last six months of my life, back in my time, were pretty much spent in one really long drunken daze. I mean I haven't done anything remotely worthwhile unless you count saving Victoria from that burning building, which I didn't because the building wasn't actually on fire and she was in on the whole thing so…"

"Victoria!" Chloe stood up suddenly. "Of course Victoria, this has to be Victoria."

"What?" Oliver looked around.

"She's still playing the game." Chloe leaned back in her chair. "I knew she was crazy, especially when she suggested the whole eighteen wheeler thing, but when I hired her I never imagined that she'd go this far."

"What does that mean?" Oliver frowned at her. "When you hired her?"

Hal and John exchanged looks and then backed away from the table. "I think there are more pastries in the kitchen," Hal said and John followed him out.

"You orchestrated the whole thing?" Oliver gaped at her in surprise and then he stopped because when he thought about it he wasn't really all that surprised. "You orchestrated the whole thing," he said more sure this time. "Why? After what I said to you, after abandoning you, why would you do that for me?"

"It's hard for me now to put myself back in the mindset I was back then. I mean for you it was a few days ago, for me it was ten years," Chloe reminded him gathering up the files scattered around the room.

"Chloe," Oliver reached out and grabbed her arm. "I was horrible to you, I mean I was pretty much an ass to everyone but you, all you did was try to help me and in return I accuse you of killing your husband." Chloe smiled at him softly. "It's just that with everything that went down, you and I were always at ground zero. You were there when I killed Lex, you were the only other one that knew. You were smack dab in the middle of the whole Jimmy disaster and every time I looked at you it just reminded me of what I'd done, of the man that I had become and I hated that man."

"Oliver, after Jimmy's funeral I hated you, I loathed you on a visceral level." Chloe told him and he hung his head in shame. "For all of about thirty minutes." He looked up at her astonished. "You think I didn't know what you were doing? I needed to be mad at someone and you needed me to hate you so. Some part of you meant what you said and that part of you was right but not malicious, it was desperate and consumed with guilt. You said what you said to keep me from drowning in sorrow, you saved me in a way so I thought I'd return the favor."

"You caught onto what I was doing then?"

"You have been many things in your life Oliver Queen, trust fund kid, party boy, lothario..."

"Lothario, really?" Oliver smirked at her.

Chloe ignored him. "But a heartless bastard? I'd never believe that for a second." She laid a hand gently on top of his and he smiled up at her, rubbing his thumb across her knuckles lightly.

"Great, so if you guys are done kissing and making up about something that happened like a billion years ago, we dug up Victoria Sinclair's last known address." Hal held up a slip of paper. "You want to go pay her a visit?"

"Yeah, let's go." Chloe stood up abruptly, yanking her hand away.

Oliver stared down at his now empty hand, amazed at how acutely he felt the loss of Chloe's hand. He looked up at where she was slapping Hal's hand away from yet another Danish and couldn't help but smile at her. Yesterday, his yesterday, when he'd realized he was in trouble, Chloe was the first person he thought to call because he knew that she would help him no matter what had happened between them. But even so, when he stepped foot in the Watchtower his stomach still twisted at the thought of seeing her again, terrified that she would turn her back on him but she didn't. And know he knew that she was behind the whole thing, that she had orchestrated it all just to pull him out of the gutter.

She was amazing and at some point in his future, and her past, he was lucky enough to marry her. He knows she wants to keep him on a need to know basis, he understands that too much information could be harmful if and when he gets back to his time. He didn't fail to notice how she kept out any mention of their relationship from her summary of the past ten years. He'd have to figure out a way to get some information out of her because now that he's seen what his life could be like with her, he was not going to risk living without her.

"Ollie!" Hal slapped a hand on table. "You coming or do you need a minute to compose yourself. Should I get you some tissues?"

Oliver grabbed the closest thing to him, which happened to be the Danish he'd grabbed earlier and never gotten around to eating and threw it at the other man. Hal just smirked, catching it as it bounced off his chest and took a huge bite.

"Hal!" Chloe stormed over and grabbed it out of his hands. "Seven Danishes is like six Danishes too many." She dropped it in the trash and Hal turned to her pouting. "I'll buy you lunch while we're out how about that?"

"Chinese?"

"Oliver hates Chinese." Chloe shook her head.

"I know that's why I suggested it." Hal winked at Oliver over his shoulder. "No offense, man."

"None taken," Oliver shrugged and got up. "How about Greek?" he offered.

"Oh I love Greek." Chloe smiled, her whole face lighting up in surprise at his suggestion.

"I know." Oliver held out his arm and Chloe slipped her hand in the crook of his shoulder.

Hal brushed past him on the way to the door, knocking lightly into Oliver's shoulder and he laughed when he heard the other man whisper, "Well played, sir," in his ear.


	3. Chapter 3

Oliver stared up at the 40 story mirrored glass building. The afternoon sun was glaring off its panels, making it impossible not to squint, even with sunglasses on. There was a large rotating marquee at the top proclaiming the tower "Roulette, Hotel and Casino". This is where they were going to find Victoria.

Oliver was wondering just exactly how they were going to do this when he felt Hal come up beside him. "So how are we gonna play this?" Oliver could tell that the other man was also squinting behind his own sunglasses. "I was thinking about…Rio."

"Rio?" Oliver frowned and looked over at Hal. "I don't know what that means," he reminded the other man and Hal pulled down his sunglasses and looked at Oliver seriously.

"Right, I forgot for a second there. Wrong Oliver."

"Even if he was the right Oliver," Chloe walked up and Oliver winced at that, just because he was a different Oliver, didn't necessarily mean he wasn't the right Oliver, "He still wouldn't know what it meant. It was just me and you in Rio remember?"

"How could I forget?" Hal's smile widened. "You wore that little white bikini." Hal turned to Oliver and bumped him slightly with his shoulder. "Dude, seriously like think, Ursula Andress in Dr. No. Hot." Hal winked.

"Dude," Oliver growled, bumping Hal's shoulder right back, only a bit more forcibly. "That's my wife…or future wife…or something you're talking about there." Hal only smiled bigger.

"I know," he said undisturbed. "Anyway, Rio was pretty epic."

"It was pretty disastrous." Chloe snorted. "As I recall it didn't even work and I had to send a whole team in after your ass."

"Oh yeah," Hal frowned.

"Besides, it's broad daylight and I have no idea where I can get a helicopter and thirty feet of industrial grade cable on short notice." Chloe said.

"Good point," Hal said.

"Perhaps I could go in first." John said. "Scope the place out quietly."

"No," Hal shook his head. "We should go in hard and fast. She'll never know what hit her."

"You always go for flash when subtlety would work." John shook his head.

"Who ever won a fight with subtlety?" Hal asked seriously and John sighed.

"Maybe you wouldn't get in so many fights if you practiced it a bit more." John offered.

Oliver looked over to see Chloe pinching the bridge of her nose. "They do this a lot then?"

"All the time," she smiled over at him. "Guys!" she called out and they shut up.

"Mr. Queen? Mrs. Queen?" They turned to see the hotel's concierge standing in front of them. "Ms. Sinclair said that you would be out here. She'll see you now."

"She'll see us now?" Chloe frowned.

"Yes ma'am," the man nodded nervously. "Said to tell you she's been expecting you. Said to tell you she's been waiting for almost ten years." If the statement seemed strange to the concierge he didn't let it show.

Chloe and Oliver looked over at each other and smiled as Hal laughed. "The front door. Interesting strategy."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

They were led to through the hotel lobby, past the bank of elevators and down a service corridor. The concierge swiped an ID card at the freight elevator and they all made a move to step in but the concierge stepped forward, blocking John and Hal. "Just Mr. and Mrs. Queen."

Hal looked over the guys shoulders at Chloe and after a second she nodded. Hal and John took a step back and the concierge got in the elevator and pushed a button. "So we'll just wait here then," Hal called as the doors closed and huffed in annoyance before turning to John. "Wanna check out the casino? A little Roulette? Always bet on black." John simply raised an eyebrow and leaned against the wall opposite the elevator. Hal groaned and followed suit.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

They were led down another corridor to a set of double doors that opened just as they walked up. "And this is where I leave you," the concierge took a step back. "I'll be waiting for you by the elevators when you're ready to leave."

Chloe and Oliver walked through the doors into a pretty good sized office. Victoria was sitting behind a desk at the far end of the room, talking on the phone. She smiled when she saw them and waved them over, indicating they should take a seat in the chairs opposite her desk.

They both sat cautiously, watching as Victoria twirled a pen in her fingers and nodded at whatever was being said on the phone. "Yeah, I need those tomorrow. No, afternoon's not soon enough, those trucks need to be on my loading dock at eight o'clock tomorrow morning. I'm glad we're seeing eye to eye." Victoria hung up the phone and wrote something in her planner and laid the pen down on the desk before she looked up.

"Chloe, Oliver, long time no see," she smiled then tilted her head at Oliver, "But not for you I suppose, what's it been a few days? Weeks?" Oliver just stared at her.

"So it was you then?" Chloe asked. "You're responsible for all of this?"

"Only indirectly," Victoria nodded, stood up and walked over to the tea cart in the corner. "I'm being rude, can I offer you some coffee Chloe? If I remember it used to be a favorite of yours." She grabbed the coffee pot and started to pour a cup.

"I don't want coffee," Chloe said through clenched teeth. "I want my husband back."

Victoria sighed and set the coffee pot down, turning to face Chloe. "I'm sorry, all I can offer you at the moment is coffee."

"You—" Chloe shot to her feet but paused when she felt Oliver's hand on her arm. "Where is my husband?" she asked her voice a bit calmer now.

"As far as I know he's fine," Victoria grabbed the cup of coffee for herself and walked back to her desk. "I was never really clear on the mechanics of it all."

"What does that mean?" Chloe sat back down slowly.

"When Oliver, _this_ Oliver was brought to this time and put in this body, the Oliver that had been inhabiting it had to be removed," Victoria looked over at Oliver, "Unless I'm mistaken and he's still in there."

"No, it's just me," Oliver said softly.

"Where did he go?"

"Nowhere," Victoria shrugged. "He's…Max used to say they were in time itself which I never really understood because I always thought they were being pulled out of time."

"Oliver's in…time?" Chloe asked. "Time as in a separate physical place?"

"A separate dimension actually." Victoria said. "I can't even begin to understand the physics involved. I tried once, it gave me a headache. I'm not even sure Max really understood the science. This stuff was just instinctual for him."

"Hold on," Chloe shook her head. "You're telling me that my husband is in another dimension?" Victoria nodded.

"Ok, but what am _I_ doing here?" Oliver asked.

"You're here because there is something about this time and this place that you needed to see." Victoria told him.

"What? What could I possibly need to see here?" Oliver asked.

"That's for you to find out," Victoria shrugged. Oliver glared at her but she sighed and he knew she wasn't trying to be cute or enigmatic, she was telling him the truth. "Max was the only one who knew for sure. He brought you here. Here specifically to this time and this place. There was something here that he thought you needed to see, to learn."

"Learn for what?" Oliver asked annoyed and Victoria just stared at him. "This is just a part of the game?" Victoria nodded. "Look it was one thing when you were messing with my life but it's not about that anymore, there are other people involved, other lives. You can't just….play God like this."

"I was hired for a job Mr. Queen," Victoria ran her finger along the top edge of the coffee cup. "And I never leave a job unfinished."

"What was unfinished?" Oliver said.

"I wasn't sure I'd made my point." Victoria defended herself.

"You made your point. You made your point with the 18 wheeler and the coffin and the fire. You made your point Victoria. I got the message."

"I'm not sure that you did."

"What else is there to learn?" Oliver threw his hands in the air in disgust.

"When I approached you in that club, when I made you that offer you had given up, lost hope. You thought you couldn't be the Green Arrow anymore, couldn't put on that suit and dispense justice because in your eyes your crimes were just as irredeemable as those you used to fight against. Reminding you that despite all of that you were still a hero was the easy part."

"That was easy?" Oliver scoffed remembering the living hell that Victoria had put him through.

Victoria chuckled. "Honestly Oliver, all I had to do was give you a damsel in distress, you took care of the rest. But there is more to life than being a hero. Teaching you how to be the Green Arrow again was easy, teaching you how to be Oliver Queen proved a bit trickier. Your downward spiral wasn't just because you thought you'd failed as a hero, it was because you thought you'd failed as a man. You were trying to kill yourself Oliver because in your eyes, you didn't deserve to live, you didn't deserve to be happy, you didn't deserve love. I could have left you, after the fire and you would have woken up the next morning and you would have gone back to the Green Arrow and you would have gone back to your life but you wouldn't have really been living it, not the way that you should have been. The Green Arrow would have become your life, would have been all you had to live for and there's so much more than that." Victoria shrugged. "Like I said, I was hired for a job and I never leave a job unfinished."

"So you had this Max guy, pull me out of time and put me here to show me something that would teach me how to live my life?"

"No, to show you something that would make you _want_ to live your life," Victoria corrected him.

"Ok, well if this Max guy brought me here, then he can just send me back. I get it. I've learned my lesson, so let's do this," Oliver rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

"It doesn't work that way. For one thing, you obviously haven't learned your lesson because if you had, you wouldn't be here anymore." Victoria informed him. "I'm not sure how it works, I just know that once you learn whatever you were meant to learn, you go back."

"I get it, you're just trying to do your job, it's commendable, that kind of work ethic really but see Chloe hired you so she's letting you off the hook, right?" Oliver turned to Chloe.

Chloe was staring at Victoria who was staring right back at her. "No," Chloe shook her head.

"No?" Oliver turned to look at her confused. "What do you mean by no?"

"I mean no," Chloe offered Oliver a small smile. "If she says there's something you still need to learn, then you need to learn it."

"Chloe?" Oliver looked confused.

"Besides, I don't think she can send you back, even if she wanted to," Chloe turned back to Victoria. "Can you?"

"No," Victoria let out a sigh, slumping slightly in her seat.

"What happened to Max?" Chloe asked and Victoria actually looked surprised. "You spoke about him in the past tense and your voice softened, just a bit."

"He…" Victoria paused, "We're not really sure. He could travel through the dimensions, it's how he brought you here. It was hard at first but the more he did it, the better he got at it, the easier it was. He said there was this place, this void, between time and space. He said that when he was there he felt truly free. He said it was like being weightless, but not just his body, his soul was weightless. He started saying there, lingering after a job was finished. Then he started visiting it on his own. It was like a private little get away, a place to go and think and relax. In the void there is no concept of time though and his trips got longer and longer to me but to him it was like only seconds had passed. One day a few years ago he went and no one has seen him since."

"And he's the only one who can send me back?" Oliver asked.

"As far as I know," Victoria nodded.

"Thank you," Chloe stood up and Oliver turned to her with a frown. "She's got nothing for us. We won't take up anymore of your time." Chloe leaned across the table with her hand outstretched and Victoria stood and shook it. Oliver followed suit, still confused but trusting that Chloe knew what she was doing. "I'll meet you by the elevators," she said to Oliver, effectively dismissing him. He looked between Chloe and Victoria uneasily but nodded and walked to the door.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

When the door closed behind Oliver Chloe took a deep breath and then looked back at Victoria. "My husband, is he ok?"

"From what I know he's fine. He's not in any pain, he's not even aware that time is moving, for him it's not. When he returns it will be as if he's never left."

"Except time will have passed for me," Chloe said.

"It's not perfect, I'll admit, but it was the only thing to do."

"I know," Chloe said with a sigh. "I know that this is important, something is telling me that this is important but there is still a part of me that just misses him, so much."

"He's still here Chloe," Victoria said softly. "Your husband is still here." Her eyes cut to the doorway that Oliver had just gone through and Chloe opened her mouth to protest but Victoria cut her off. "I know he's not technically your husband. Not yet anyway. What's the difference between this Oliver and your Oliver? Ten years. In the grand scheme of things that's like a drop in the bucket. If Max taught me anything it's that time doesn't change a person, not who they truly are. Time can add to our experiences, it can teach us things, show us things, but it can't change us, not really. That man will always be and has always been your husband whether he's in 2009 or 2019."

Chloe paused because that made so much sense that it was scary and she wasn't really ready to wrap her head around it just then so she smiled and then turned to walk to the door.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver pushed himself off the wall opposite the double doors when they opened and Chloe walked out. "So what's the plan? We come back later, assemble the team, launch a full frontal attack?" Oliver followed Chloe to the elevator.

"No," Chloe shook her head as the concierge motioned them in and the elevator started going back down.

"No?" Oliver asked.

"I don't think she was lying. She really can't help us." Chloe said.

"Right, ok, well," Oliver nodded. He had no other options. This was their only lead and it had gone colder than cold. He wasn't sure where to go from here and by the look on Chloe's face, neither was she.

When the elevator stopped they stepped out to see John and Hal looking at them expectantly. "So was it her?"

"Yeah," Chloe nodded.

"Is she gonna send him back to his time? Bring our Oliver back?" Hal asked and Oliver hated that it still hurt every time they said 'our Oliver'.

"No," Chloe shook her head and they walked through the corridor and out into the hotel lobby.

"No?" Hal scoffed. "So then, what's the plan? We come back later, assemble the team, launch a full frontal attack?" Oliver stared as the other man repeated his idea, word for word. He guessed they really were good friends, but still it was a bit creepy how alike they were. It at least managed to put a smile on Chloe's face though.

"No, we're not coming back. This is a dead end," Chloe shook her head as they exited the building back out into the sun.

"Ok, then we go back to the Watchtower, dig up any person we can find who might have a power even remotely related to time travel—" Hal started.

"No," Chloe said as she put her sunglasses on. "Just drop it."

"Drop it?" Hal asked her confused. "Drop it as in _drop_ it?"

"Yeah," Chloe nodded. "Just drop it."

"But—"

"Hal," Chloe snapped. "Drop it."

"Ok," Hal looked between Chloe and Oliver. "You want me to drop it I'll drop it." He put his sunglasses on and fell instep beside her as they made their way to the cars.

Oliver reached out a hand, catching John as he made a move to follow them. "Chloe's cool with dropping this thing, letting it play out but I'm not. I'm not just going to sit by and do nothing while she-If there's any way that I can get her Oliver back, anything I can do I want to try."

"I'll stay on top of it," John nodded. "I've been thinking, maybe Zatanna might be of some use to us?"

Oliver remembered her, the woman who could apparently cast spells, who had some sort of magical power. "I think she still owes me a wish," Oliver said and John smiled.

"I'll set up a meeting," John said and Oliver opened his mouth, his eyes shooting to Chloe and John clapped him on the back. "And I'll keep this between the two of us."

"Thanks," Oliver said and hurried to catch back up to Chloe and Hal. "So back to the Clock Tower?"

"No," Chloe said, staring down at her phone. "Metropolis General actually," she looked up at the guys with a soft smile on her face. "Tess just went into labor."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver and Hal sat in the hard plastic chairs in the hospital waiting room, bored out of their minds. It was going on hour nine of Tess' labor and they'd been kicked out of the room somewhere around the four hour mark. John left soon after that, he had his day job to get back to after all and it left them alone with nothing to do. Chloe walked by carrying a large cup of ice, a harried expression on her face. "She needs more ice chips," she offered them a strained smile. "She's about 6 centimeters but still refusing the epidural."

Oliver smiled a bit fondly, "She's going to be pushing a very large baby out of a very small hole, she knows this right? Her husband who is also a brilliant doctor explained all the mechanics of that to her didn't he?" Chloe simply raised her eyebrows at him and he shook his head. This was the Tess he knew, never show weakness, never show pain.

"Is she crying yet?" Hal asked with a smirk on his face. "If she cries, she owes me twenty bucks." Chloe just rolled her eyes.

"Look, you guys can go home if you want, it might be a few more hours," Chloe offered.

"No way, I go home, she cries and then scares everyone into pretending like it never happened. She'd do it you know she would." Hal said and Oliver smiled but he could tell that the other man really wanted to be there for his friend.

"I'm good too. Can I get you anything? Something to eat? Drink?" Oliver offered.

"No, I'm not really hungry," she sighed and put on a big smile that anyone could tell was fake. "I'm fine," she said before walking away.

"She's so not fine," Hal sighed and leaned back in the chair. "This must be really hard on her. Tess considered not having her here but thought that might hurt her more."

"This pregnancy thing, it's a big deal for her huh?" Oliver asked.

Hal turned to him as if just remembering that he had no clue what had happened the past ten years. "You guys have been trying for about five years now, actively trying. For a while there it was just 'hey let's try and have a baby' and after a year-nothing. Then Lois gets pregnant with twins. So you guys really started trying, ovulation charts, keeping her hips elevated, optimal sexual positions for conceiving—"

"You know far too much about my future sex life,"

"Chloe needed someone to talk to and she didn't want to burden you," Hal shrugged. "Any way, you guys did all that for another six months and still nothing. So you went to specialists. Nothing was wrong with you, nothing was wrong with her. Then you went to Emil because she thought it might be meteor related. She was convinced for a while it had something to do with her old healing power. She didn't understand why she could bring life to other people but she can't seem to make a life. He ran every single test under the sun and still nothing. So you started fertility treatments. She was on that for two years and it almost killed her, all the side effects, there were severe mood swings and bloating and she got these heinous migraines and stomach cramps but she thought it would all be worth it, as long as she got a baby out of the deal. And then Tess got pregnant and I think she just couldn't take it anymore. She stopped everything, she even stopped trying because everyone told her that if she stopped trying, she's get pregnant in a flash."

"And yet, still not pregnant," Oliver sighed.

"Emil keeps telling her to be patient that it will happen when it's meant to happen but I'm pretty sure she's given up hope." Hal looked over at Oliver. "It was hitting you pretty hard too, you tried to hide it but she could tell and I think that's partly why she stopped."

Oliver could only imagine what it would be like, to want something so badly, to try so hard and to come up empty handed. They sat in silence after that and Oliver thought about what Hal had said, how it had hit Oliver hard and he couldn't really picture that. He'd never really imagined himself as a dad, never thought he'd want kids. But somehow with Chloe he could see himself wanting that. She pulled him out of his thoughts when Chloe appeared in the doorway to the waiting room a huge smile on her face, "A boy," she said. "6 pounds, 11 ounces."

Oliver and Hal jumped to their feet, "Tess is doing ok?" Hal asked and Chloe nodded. "Can we go in?"

"Yeah, she's been asking for you," Chloe said and they followed her into the room.

Emil was prouder than Oliver had ever seen him, he just kept saying 'my son', used any excuse. _"Isn't my son beautiful"_ and _"My son has a full head of hair"_ and once when Tess was holding him he'd just said, _"That's my son"_ almost like he couldn't believe it.

Oliver watched as Tess passed the baby off to Chloe, "Did you decide on a name?" she asked and Tess nodded.

"Noah, Noah Aaron Hamilton." Tess said and Chloe smiled.

"It's nice to meet you Noah," she stared down at the baby and Oliver's heart broke for her. She was happy, for Emil and Tess and Noah of course but he could tell, looking at her looking at him was almost painful. She still wanted a baby but contrary to what Hal believed, she hadn't given up hope. He watched as she brought a hand up to her face, wiping away a tear before it had a chance to fall and he had to turn away because he just couldn't take it.

Hal was hovering over Tess, looking at her critically. "You cried," he said studying her eyes, "Did you cry?" he frowned. "You did didn't you?" he asked and Tess rolled her eyes. "Come on Chloe help me out here, were there or where there not tears?"

"Sorry Tess," Chloe looked up at the new mom then over at Hal, "She bawled."

Hal jumped up and shouted. "I knew it, I knew you'd cry."

"Yeah yeah," Tess waved him off. "When I can feel my legs again and, I'll go get my purse and pay you the twenty I owe you."

"Nah, keep it," Hal shrugged. "Put it Noah's college fund."

"Wow, you're shooting for the Ivy Leagues huh?" Tess joked.

"Here," Emil said suddenly from Oliver's side and he turned to find a baby being shoved at him. "You want to hold him?"

"I…" Oliver looked over at Chloe helplessly. He couldn't refuse, it would look really weird but he and babies didn't really mix. "Sure," he nodded and held out his hands, mimicking what he'd seen Chloe do before, making sure to support his head. "Wow," Oliver looked down. "He's tiny."

"Didn't feel so tiny an hour ago," Tess snorted and Oliver smiled.

"Hey kid," Oliver moved the blanket away from his face so he could see him better and suddenly there was this tiny little hand, grabbing onto his finger. "You got a pretty good grip there buddy," Oliver laughed down at him then looked up at Tess in awe. "You made this."

"I know, it baffles the mind right?" Tess said.

"I'm gonna go get some coffee, it's been like three hours since my last fix," Chloe said before hurrying from the room and Tess' face fell.

"Shit," Oliver groaned and passed Noah back to his father. "I didn't even…" he followed Chloe out of the room cursing under his breath. He'd been so stupid, he hadn't even realized. Chloe holding Noah was bad enough but for her to see him holding a baby must have been just more than she could handle.

He found her one hallway over, collapsed against the wall, sobbing. Before he even thought about it he'd reached out and grabbed her shoulders and pulled her against his chest. Her hands fisted in his shirt, clutching the fabric between her fingers as he held her tight. He rubbed her back soothingly, mumbling nonsense words into her ear, telling her it would be ok and she just cried. Oliver had a feeling that this was probably the first time that she'd let herself do this, that she'd let herself cry over this whole situation and he wasn't going to do anything to stop her.

When she'd exhausted all her tears she didn't pull away and Oliver didn't push her away and they stayed like that, leaning against each other in the hospital hallway. "I'm a horrible friend," Chloe said after a minute.

"You're not," Oliver assured her. "Tess understands."

"I'm happy for her, I'm _so_ happy for her," Chloe tried to explain.

"But you're jealous, and you're angry and you don't understand why her and not you," Oliver said and Chloe looked up at him surprised at how well he got her. It's true he hadn't been there through the fertility treatments and all the negative tests and the heart break but he doesn't understand wanting something so badly and not understanding why you couldn't have it. "I used to feel that way when I was younger, when my friend's parents would come to school for conferences or plays or to soccer games. It wasn't fair, I didn't understand why they had a mom and dad and I didn't. I hate them sometimes and I was jealous of them all the time but mostly I was just angry."

Chloe stared up at him with this unreadable expression on her face. "You've never…_he_ never told me that before."

Oliver just shrugged and Chloe laid her head back on his chest. "We can go. She'd understand you know, besides she's probably exhausted and looking forward to spending some time alone, just her and Emil and Noah."

"Yeah, I'll just go get Hal and say goodbye," Chloe pushed away and wiped at her tears. "How do I look?"

"Beautiful," Oliver answered without hesitation and Chloe rolled her eyes and hip checked him.

By the time they'd said their goodbyes and gotten back to the Clock Tower it was well after 11 o'clock and both Chloe and Oliver were exhausted. "What now?" Oliver asked as Chloe helped him pull the couch bed out.

She stopped with one of the couch cushions in her hand. "I think…I want to head back to Star City. Tomorrow." Chloe said after thinking it over. "We were going to head back at the end of the week but it's been a long day and I just want to sleep in my own bed."

"Sure, if that's what you want," Oliver said. "And when we get to Star City? What happens then?"

"I go back to work and so do you," Chloe took a deep breath. "And we go back to our lives. Hopefully you learn whatever it is you're here to learn. I'll help, get you caught up at work so you can at least look like you know what you're doing," Oliver smiled at her. "And fill you in on anything else you need to know as things come up."

"Ok," Oliver nodded. "Sounds good."

"Goodnight," Chloe turned around and headed to her room. She stopped and turned around. "Oliver, thanks."

He didn't have to ask what she was thanking him for and she didn't elaborate. "Anytime," he said truthfully.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

They left early the next morning. They didn't talk at all as Chloe gathered up all the stuff she'd managed to accumulate during her two month stay at the Watchtower and Oliver packed his one bag. They dropped the bags by the front door, and Chloe sat down at the kitchen counter to write Mia a short little note before taking her's and Oliver's keys and dropping them in the bowl by the elevator. "Ready?" Oliver asked her and she took a deep breath before nodding.

"We should stop by the hospital on the way to the airport," Chloe said as Oliver handed their bags to the driver.

"Really?" Oliver asked cautiously.

Chloe gave him a soft smile, "Yeah I want to see Noah again and I need to say goodbye to Tess."

"Are you sure?"

"He's going to be my Godson, he'll be a part of my life forever. And I do love him, so I can put aside my own issues." Chloe assured him.

She was better with Noah the second time around. Her smile was brighter and she laughed as she cradled him her arms and spun around the room with him. She sat on the chair by Tess' bed, feeding Noah a bottle and talking animatedly with Tess about something. Oliver watched her as she set the bottle on the table and transferred Noah to her shoulder burping him without missing a beat in her conversation with Tess. She was really good with kids.

Then he remembered the Lois had twins and if he knew Chloe she probably didn't leave her cousin's side until the kids were crawling so she would be good at this.

They left after a lengthy goodbye and a few more tears on Tess part which Oliver threatened to tell Hal about and a few more tears on tears on Chloe's part which Oliver pretended not to see. By the time they made it to the lobby, Chloe was showing Oliver all the pictures she'd managed to take in the thirty minutes they were there as she gushed, swearing that he'd smiled at her.

Oliver slung his arm over her shoulder and pulled her against him, dropping a kiss to her temple. "You're gonna make a great Godmother," he whispered and she titled her head up to him, beaming at him, her smile genuine. "And someday you _will_ make an amazing mother."

Her smile fell a bit but it was still genuine. "Thanks." She ducked out from under his arm and climbed in the car.

The plane ride back to Star City was spent with Chloe bringing Oliver up to date with the more intricate day to day things he'd need to know to pull off being 'her' Oliver Queen. She started out with JLA business, updating him on all their current major enemies, of which they apparently had many but their biggest problem at the moment was a man name General Eiling and his elite force of super enhanced soldiers he called the Ultramarines.

Then she went through the major players on their side. The JLA had certainly expanded in ten years from the original seven members based out of Metropolis to over twenty-five fully active members and about thirty or so who helped out on a case by case basis all over the world. Tess handled Metropolis with Clark and John and a few others. Victor headed up his own team in Europe, stationed in Spain with Dinah. The main base was in Star City though, technically run by Chloe but someone named Oracle handled the day by day operations. Bart was out there with them, of course, but so was AC along with his wife Mera. Oliver was really relieved when Chloe told him that Hal was also stationed in Star City which meant that he'd have someone other than Chloe to talk to about this whole crazy situation. And he'd be lying if he didn't admit it would just be nice to have someone he could go out and have a drink with.

They moved onto work after that. Chloe told him everything she knew about the daily going's on at Queen Industries which was a lot apparently. The merger with LuthorCorp that Oliver had just finalized back in his time was apparently still going strong. They functioned as basically two separate companies with Tess heading LuthorCorp and Oliver taking Queen Industries but they did combine forces once in a while on really big projects. Like the one that her Oliver had spent the better part of two years on. It was some sort of new lightweight body armor. They were in a race with two other companies to see who could finish it first and best. The winner would get a very hefty military contract and Oliver was doubly excited because if his worked the way he was hoping it would, apparently it would be cheap enough to produce that more than just the military could benefit from it, like police and private security.

Whatever Chloe didn't know she assured Oliver his assistant could bring him up to speed on. She was an organizational genius, kept track of everything, even all of his meetings which she recorded and then transcribed and apparently stored on his computer. When they finally landed in Star City Oliver had found that he'd thought a better term to describe his assistant was freakishly anal retentive. Everything was on his computer, every memo he'd ever sent, every email, every fax, every meeting and even every phone call, which she also recorded and transcribed.

He knew he'd probably need to look through most of that later but the files he'd found from R&D on the body armor were really fascinating. He barely registered getting off of the plane and into the car he was so engrossed in the research. He didn't look up until the car stopped at a red light and he stretched his neck and rubbed his eyes. Chloe was on the phone talking about tile and grout so he assumed she was talking to the contractor. He rolled down the window to get a bit of fresh air and froze when he saw a very large banner hanging between the light posts. It was a picture of him, well half of it was him in a business suit, the other half was him in his Green Arrow gear. Next to him in very large print was the slogan, "Support Your Local Heroes".

"Uh, Chlo?" Oliver asked and something in the tone of his voice made her pause and hang up the phone. He nodded at the banner and then turned to her. "What the hell?"

"Oh God, is it that time again already?" Chloe asked opening up an app on her phone and typing something rapidly. "Every year they do this, every year they get shot down."

"Who does what?" Oliver asked. "And what does it have to do with my Secret Identity being broadcast to all of downtown Star City?"

"There's a group called the VRA, about a year from your time, they propose a law called the Vigilante Registration Act, which is exactly what it sounds like. It would have made it mandatory for heroes to register with the Federal government. It was a really crazy time with a lot of Anti-hero sentiment and the VRA was making a nuisance digging into everything and everyone trying to uncover the team's identities so as a way to take the heat off of them, you called a press conference and outed yourself so to speak."

"So everyone knows I'm the Green Arrow and they don't care?" Oliver asked and Chloe nodded.

"The first few days were all 'Green Arrow Girls' and gift baskets. The media ate it up at first and then the story got old and they tried to make a new one, turning on you, railing against you for being a vigilante. It sparked a huge debate, hero vs vigilante and you tried to keep the peace by voluntarily registering with the VRA, plus you wanted to know what they were really up to. It was a trap, they did tests on you, tortured you to give up the other's identities. The team came in and rescued you, but in the process they blew up the facility. They labeled you a terrorist and the government seized your company and all your assets and the public turned against you. It was hard for you for a while."

"What changed?" Oliver asked.

"People started speaking out and then a grass roots Pro-Hero movement started, headed by Martha Kent. With a little help from some friends, it went viral. The law ended up getting shot down and without all the anti-vigilante vitriol being shoved in their faces the people were able to see all that you really did for them and things slowly started to get better."

"But I'm still the Green Arrow right?" Oliver asked concerned and Chloe nodded. "How does that work when everyone knows it's me?"

"It was strange at first. There were a few people who took advantage, suing you for injuries sustained when you saved them or suing you for _not _saving them but the city really rallied behind you and the lawsuits sort of disappeared and now you're like a mascot of sorts, a beacon to the people of Star City."

"A beacon huh?" Oliver smiled. "So what's with the banner?"

"Well they may have gotten shot down the first time but it doesn't stop them from trying. Every year they try to slip the law through and every year we shoot it down. Star City holds an annual 'Support Your Local Hero' rally and as you're really the only openly "out" hero, you're sort of the Poster Boy." Chloe smiled and told him how in the past few years they'd added a parade and he's been the Grand Marshall.

"Wait you're telling me that I stand up on a float in broad daylight, in full Green Arrow gear, doing a princess wave through downtown Star City?" He asked Chloe with a laugh and she smirked.

"Yes, in fact, I believe you've already RSVP'd for this year's parade which is next month so you better start practicing that wave," she was far too amused at his obvious discomfort so he just sat back in his seat with a smirk.

"If I have to stand up there like an idiot then I think my lovely wife should stand right beside me," Oliver told her and Chloe snorted. "I'm not joking Chloe. I think it would really mean a lot to the city to see the loyal wife of their hometown hero standing proudly by her husband on the top of a ridiculous float."

Chloe glared at him. "You play dirty," she said and he smiled wider, knowing right then and there Chloe would be standing next to him on that float. "I'm not waving," she told him with a huff and he laughed.

"Green Arrow Girls?" Oliver asked after a few minutes of silence, his lips trying and failing from curling into a smile.

Chloe couldn't help but smirk and that made Oliver laugh and pretty soon Chloe followed suit. "They had t-shirts made up," Chloe said through her laughter. "They _followed_ you across the country. We found one hiding in the pantry at the Penthouse once. That's when we installed the new security."

"Oh God," He leaned his head back and groaned. "I have groupies."

Chloe just laughed harder at his obvious discomfort.

Chloe spent the rest of the car ride telling Oliver all about Sarah, his biggest fan, and all the ways she'd tried to get close to him before he finally had to break down and get a restraining order against her. "She still sends us a Christmas card every year." Chloe said as the car slowed down, turning off the main highway. "I have them in box somewhere."

"Why?" Oliver asked, honestly confused.

"I don't know. So in like thirty years you can show our grandkids how one day you used to be cool."

"By showing them letters from my stalker?" Oliver nudged her shoulder, not pointing out the fact that she'd just said 'our grandkids'.

"She's not a stalker, don't be so dramatic." Chloe rolled her eyes.

Oliver opened his mouth to remind Chloe that the girl had hidden in their pantry for two days just to get a glimpse of him when the car took another turn, pulling onto a very familiar drive. The cherry trees that lined either side of the path were in full bloom, encasing them in a tunnel made of pink blossoms. He leaned further toward the window, swallowing hard as the house he grew up in came into view, the house that he hadn't set foot in since he was nine years old. "Chloe, what are we doing here?" he asked. His voice was soft and his face was so close to the window his breath fogged up the glass.

"We live here," she shrugged, looking at him strangely as the car came to a stop and she opened the door and climbed out of the car. She stopped when Oliver didn't follow and ducked her head back into the car. "You coming?"

He nodded slowly and stepped out of the car. The driver grabbed Chloe's bags from the trunk and walked up the front porch, letting himself in the house while Oliver just stood next to the car. "Hey, you ok?" Chloe asked him, confused by his behavior.

He looked over at her and then back at the house. He studied the familiar white columns, the wraparound porch with the large swing, the deep green front door. It looked exactly the same as it had when he'd left it twenty years ago. "I haven't…" he turned to Chloe. "I haven't stepped foot in there since my parents died."

"Oh," Chloe looked horror stricken for a second, unsure what to do. "I—he never, _you_ never told me that. We still have the penthouse, in the city. We can go there if you'd rather not…"

"No," Oliver shook his head. "I just need a minute." If he closed his eyes he could have been nine years old again, his mom pulling up weeds in the front garden as he skinned his knees and dug up bugs and did boy stuff. "I broke my arm falling out of that tree when I was seven." Oliver pointed to a large tree behind Chloe. "The bone broke straight through the skin. My mom was so pissed," he chuckled.

"Yeah?" Chloe smiled at him. "Did it scar?"

Oliver pulled off his jacket and pointed to a faint white line on his left forearm. Chloe's eyes went wide and she slapped his arm. "You told me you got that in a base jumping accident in Norway."

Oliver smirked. "Well yeah, cause that sounds so much better than, 'I was sitting on a branch when I got scared by a woodpecker and fell out of a tree'."

Chloe's smile widened. "You got scared by a woodpecker?"

"You do not get to laugh at this," Oliver said.

"Why would I laugh?" Chloe headed up the porch stairs. "Woodpeckers are terrifying creatures," Chloe said, a small laugh escaping.

"Ok, you want to go there?" Oliver followed her up the steps, "I remember a story Lois told me once that started out with you and her deciding to campout in her backyard and ended with an entire army base being locked down for two days on a rather intense man hunt."

Chloe turned around and gasped. "She didn't."

"Oh she did." Oliver nodded, reaching for the door and opening it for her. "So exactly how pissed were the MP's when you explained to them that it wasn't a man who attacked your camp site but rather Big Foot?"

"Ok, in my defense we were hyped up on sugar and we'd been telling each other ghost stories for like hours." Chloe said.

Oliver stopped in place when he realized he was in the kitchen. It was different than he remembered. "This was the first room we did," Chloe said cautiously, worried that he wouldn't like it. The stripped wallpaper his mom had picked out had been painted over a soft yellow color, and the oak cabinets were now a glossy white. The old laminate countertops were gone, replaced with a sandy sort of granite slab. The appliances had all been upgraded to brand new stainless steel but it still felt like his kitchen somehow.

"It's nice," Oliver smiled at her sincerely. "I like it."

Chloe slumped in relief, her smile lighting up her whole face at his reassurance. When he finally got over the shock of the changes he noticed the man leaning against the counter by the coffee pot, staring at them. "You're home early," the man said to them, nonchalantly sipping the coffee as if he belonged there.

"Hey Mike," Chloe turned around and Oliver looked over at Chloe confused. She mouthed, "Contractor," to him and he nodded. "How's it going?"

"It's going," Mike shrugged.

"We've just got the master bath to finish now right?" Chloe reached past him to get her own coffee cup from the drying rack by the sink and he nodded lazily. "We're still shooting for the end of the week?" she asked and he pulled out the coffee pot and poured some into her cup for her.

"If all goes according to plan," Mike nodded.

"Mike," Chloe leveled him with a serious glare.

"We should be out of here in a few days," he promised her.

"That's what I wanted to hear," Chloe smiled at him and then her gaze landed on a pile of small white stone pieces lying on the opposite countertop. "Mike," she stepped forward and picked up one of them.

"Oh yeah," he pushed himself up and walked over beside Chloe, running his fingers through his hair nervously. "I'm really sorry about that. One of the guys knocked into the bedside table and it just…fell." Chloe picked up a few more pieces, looking at them strangely. "I can replace it for you."

"No you can't," Chloe closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "But it's ok, just be more careful yeah?"

"Sure thing boss," Mike nodded just as a very loud thump came from upstairs. He put a hand on Chloe's shoulder as he walked past her and up the stairs.

"Chloe?" Oliver frowned and she set the pieces back down on the counter top and turned to him.

"I'm gonna go check up on the progress, see how it's going," she told him. "Why don't you reacquaint yourself with the place, check out all the changes." She carried her coffee cup with her as she slipped past him and out the kitchen.

Oliver watched her go with a small smile. When she was out of sight he found himself breathing a sigh of relief. He hadn't even realized this was something he needed to do on his own, but it was almost like Chloe knew. It hit him suddenly, making something in his chest twist, because it was very likely that Chloe _did_ know. They'd been married for ten years, well she'd been married to him for ten years, of course she knew that. He stopped to think about what that meant, to have someone in his life that knew him even better than he knew himself.

He took a deep breath and stepped into the living room.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

He wandered around the house for hours, taking in all the things that had changed. There was a fresh coat of paint in every room. All of the windows and doors had been replaced, likely with more energy efficient models. The downstairs baths looked like they'd been completely gutted and Oliver remembered Chloe saying something about a busted pipe.

But what Oliver noticed the most were the things that were exactly the same. The floors were the same ones that he ran around on when he was a kid, they'd just been sanded and refinished. He could still see the scratches in the wood that ran the length of the hallway from riding his skateboard in the house.

The hutch that his mom found in Colonial Williamsburg was polished and full of her china, sitting in its rightful spot next to the dining room table. He remembered his mom making his dad haul the thing across country and he'd taken Oliver with him. They'd stayed in cheap motel's right off the highway and eaten junk food in front of the television and his dad had let him stay up late and watch old cheesy monster movies.

There were traces of his parents all over the house and he found that it did hurt to see them, but surprisingly in a good way. Suddenly he had all these memories of them that he hadn't had before; like the marks etched into the inside door frame of the pantry that his mom had made with a screwdriver, tracking his growth or the tire swing out back that his dad used to teach him to aim his arrows through a moving target.

He stood at the doorway to his dad's old study and took a deep breath before opening the door. He smiled as he stepped inside. It was exactly the same as he remembered it. The book shelves that lined the room, filled to the brim with all of his dad's books, the antique first edition classics mixed in with warn paperbacks of popular fiction. The big red tufted leather couch that Oliver used to fall asleep on when his dad worked late nights was still in the corner. The large mahogany desk that he used to hide under, playing with his army men while his dad was on the phone, was still in the middle of the room.

He walked around the desk, sliding his finger along the edge as he went. The same picture of his mom was front and center in the same frame. She was outside, in a field or a park or something. Her white dress was flowing in the wind and she was trying desperately to keep her hair out of her face. Oliver's mom used to say that she hated that picture, that he hadn't warned her he was going to take it and she wasn't ready. Oliver's dad said he _had _to take the picture right then because that was the moment that he realized he was in love with her and he wanted to save it, hold onto it forever.

Oliver sunk into his father's old chair, a chair he never thought he'd be big enough to fit into and leaned back. There were only two things that didn't belong to his dad in the room. The sleek high tech lap top sitting in the middle of the desk was obviously Oliver's and so was the picture in the frame next to his mom's.

He reached out and picked it up slowly. It was a picture of Chloe. She was in bed, lying on her stomach, tangled up in a set of white sheets, obviously naked underneath them. She looked as if she might of just woken up, her head tilted to the side, her hair messy and just falling into her eyes, the beginnings of a smile on her face. There was something captivating about the picture, about the soft look in her eyes, about the candidness of the moment that Oliver just knew, that right there had to have been the moment that he realized he was in love with Chloe Sullivan and like his father before him, snapped the picture in an attempt to preserve that moment forever.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

When he finally tore himself away from the study he found Chloe sitting at the kitchen table the broken white stone pieces cradled in her hand. He walked over quietly and sat down next to her. "Is that a chess piece?" he asked her and she looked over at him.

"_Was_ a chess piece," Chloe nodded. "A White Queen," she said. "You gave it to me the morning after the Roulette thing. I was having coffee and you just set it on the table in front of me. It was your way of telling me I'd won, that you knew it was me who set you up and that there were no hard feelings."

Oliver smiled at her smiling at the memory. "Still it's just a chess piece."

"No," Chloe shook her head. "That conversation, that moment was sort of the start of everything_. _I always associated the white queen with that day and by extension us." She took a deep breath and looked up at Oliver. "And now it's broken, so what does that mean?"

"Nothing," Oliver said seriously. He could see the unshed tears in her eyes threatening to fall. He knew where she was going with this. If she associated the chess piece with their relationship and the chess piece was broken, did that mean their relationship was broken? "It doesn't mean anything Chloe. It was a good memory and a nice sentiment but that's all it was, it wasn't an omen, it wasn't some prophetic warning. It was chess piece and it broke."

"I know," Chloe sucked in a breath. "I'm being silly."

"No. Right now things are scary and uncertain and the only person that could make you feel better about it isn't here," Oliver said. "You miss your husband Chloe. It's not silly."

"Thanks," she stood up and kissed his cheek. "I think I needed to hear that. I'm going to head up to bed. The guest room is—"

"Up the stairs on the right," Oliver nodded. "I remember."

Chloe nodded and walked to the door, stopping at the trashcan and dropping the pieces in.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

He spent the next few days holed up in his dad's study which was apparently now his home office, going through the files on his computer, catching himself up as best as he could on what was happening with Queen Industries before he finally felt comfortable enough to venture into the office.

The business world hadn't changed much in ten years, they just had better tech but after two hours on the phone with Chloe, talking him through the basics, he managed to navigate the office's system without too much trouble. Other than the hour and half he spend with the R&D department going over the new specs for the amour, his day was pretty boring, filled with conference calls and board meetings and paperwork, lots of paperwork.

At the end of the day Oliver was exhausted when stepped through the back door and into the kitchen with his phone pressed up to his ear. "No, I'm home now, I'll call you in the morning." Chloe looked over at Oliver pointedly as she set a plate of bread on the table. "You know Chloe's rule about work calls after hours," Oliver said and Chloe smiled. "Yeah I wouldn't want to be on her bad side either. Good choice." Oliver hung up the phone and slipped it in his pocket. "Sorry about that."

"It's fine." Chloe assured him as she dropped a bowl of noodles next to the French bread. "Drop your stuff in the office and then wash up because dinners ready." She set a bowl of red sauce and meat balls next to the noodles and went back for the bowl of salad on the counter.

"Did you cook this?" Oliver asked skeptically.

"Does it look like the kitchen was recently on fire?" Chloe raised her eyebrow and Oliver laughed. "I ordered in."

When he got back into the kitchen Chloe was pouring him a glass of wine and he sat down at the table, suddenly starving. "So honey, how was your day?" Chloe asked as she poured her own glass of wine and sat down next to him.

"It was pretty good today actually." Oliver said as he served up a plate of spaghetti and meatballs. He told her about the boring meetings, about how he only got three names wrong, and went on for quite a while about the new developments with armor. "How about you? How was your day?"

"Ugh, horrible. My editor's still pissed about the leave I took to go to Metropolis, even though I technically worked the whole time. I didn't miss a single deadline. But as a punishment he sent me to cover the city council meeting, which is generally soul crushingly boring but the jokes on him because I think I have a lead on a hot new story."

"Really?" Oliver leaned back in his chair listening as Chloe told him about discrepancies she found between the new budget and the approval list for the new state contracts. She admitted there was a possibility it was nothing but on the off chance that it was something, she was going to be the first one to know.

He stood up and grabbed his plate bringing it to the kitchen when Chloe stopped talking suddenly and stared at him. "What?" he looked around confused.

"You're doing dishes?" she asked.

"Do I not normally do the dishes?" Oliver paused.

"Not without my asking," Chloe shrugged.

"Well you did the cooking…sort of," Oliver walked back over to the table. "The least I can do is clean up." He reached for her plate and frowned when he saw it basically full. "Are you not finished?"

"What?" she looked down, almost surprised to see a full plate of pasta. "No, I mean yes, I'm done."

"You hardly ate anything," Oliver frowned at her in concern.

"My stomach's been all over the place with everything that's been going on," Chloe smiled weakly at him. "I haven't really had an appetite."

"Are you ok?" Oliver asked grabbing her plate.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Chloe forced a smile onto her face. "It's just a bad case of the nerves. I always get this way when we're apart, whether it's for work or something else. I just never really felt settled until he came back home."

Oliver brought the dishes over to the sink and turned on the faucet. "He's fine Chloe," Oliver said. "Victoria told us he was fine."

"Yeah, but he's not _here_." Chloe said and he could hear her gathering the rest of the dishes off the table.

Oliver leaned against the counter and he knew she wasn't trying to make him feel bad. Logically he knew none of this wasn't his fault, and he knew that she didn't actually blame him but the only reason her Oliver was gone was because he was there, in his place.

He could hear her rummaging around in the cabinets as he rinsed off the dishes. They didn't speak as he loaded the plates into the dishwasher and she put the leftovers away in the fridge. He rinsed out the sink as she started the coffee pot and he wanted to say something that would that would make it all better, make her feel better but nothing came. There wasn't anything that could make this situation any better. Except him learning whatever it was that he was supposed to learn and getting the hell out of there so _her_ Oliver could come back.

"I'm going to go get some work done," Oliver said, dropping a comforting hand on her shoulder as he walked out of the kitchen and headed for his office.

Chloe sighed and stared as the coffee dripped down into the carafe. She knew the second the words were out of her mouth she wanted to take them back. It wasn't his fault, none of this was his fault. If she wanted to get technical it was all her fault, she was the one who'd hired Victoria in the first place. And she didn't regret that, Oliver had needed Victoria to pull him out of the gutter. She'd just never imagined that it would come back to bite her in the ass ten years later.

The thing was, even though he wasn't her Oliver, he was still Oliver and she still knew him. She knew him better than she knew anyone else. And she'd seen the way his shoulder's had slumped when she'd made the comment. She'd hurt him and she really hadn't meant to do that. His life had been just as disrupted as hers by this whole thing and he hadn't complained once. All he'd done is reassure her that things were going to be ok, he'd gone out of his way to make things easier on her.

She poured two cups of coffee and carried them to his office. He was completely engrossed in something on his computer screen and she leaned against the door frame just watching him. He ran his fingers through his hair, scratching the back of his neck a bit before leaning back in his chair and letting out a small huff of annoyance. It was such an Oliver thing to do that Chloe's breath caught in her throat for a second.

She must have made a noise because he looked up and saw her. "Hey," she pushed off the door frame and walked into the room and around the desk. "Thought you might like some coffee."

"Thanks," Oliver reached out and took the mug. His fingers brushed over hers and she her breath caught again.

"Chloe?" Oliver asked her softly and she looked up to see him staring at her. It would be so easy, so easy to just lean in and kiss him, so easy to climb into the chair, straddle his lap and just sink into him and she knew that he wouldn't object but she just _couldn't_. "Chloe," he said a little louder and she realized that she was still holding the coffee mug.

"Sorry," she let go and took a step back, a blush creeping up her cheeks. "I'll let you get back to work." She moved toward the door but stopped when he called out her name again. She turned to see him holding something out to her.

As she got closer she saw that it was a chess piece, it was _her_ chess piece, her White Queen. He'd put it back together. He'd found all the pieces and glued them back together. She took it from him and smiled softly. "Nothing is ever so broken it can't be fixed," he told her quietly and she clenched the chess piece tightly in her fist as she walked to the door.

"Hey Oliver," she turned around in the doorway and looked over at him.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"I miss him, I can't help that," she smiled and tilted her head. "But I am glad _you're_ here."

Oliver smiled as she left the room and leaned back in his chair. She'd said she was glad that he was there. He wasn't stupid. He knew that she would much rather have her Oliver there and he really couldn't fault her for that. But out of anybody it could have been to take his place, she was glad it was him. Not Clark, not Lois, and not Hal. It wasn't much, but he'd take it.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

They get settled into a comfortable routine after that. He gets up in the morning and starts her coffee before heading out for a run. When he gets back she's got the paper and a nice selection of pastries delivered from the local bakery on the table waiting for him. He showers and they eat together, well Oliver eats and Chloe picks at a Danish for thirty minutes. Then he heads off to the office and she heads off to the paper.

They have lunch together whenever both of their schedules permit. It's something that Oliver's secretary sets up the first time as per his—or rather future him's—orders. They can't exactly tell his secretary that's it's not really necessary any longer because they can't tell her why.

Oliver doesn't mind, in fact those days are his favorite. He likes going to 'their place', a little corner bistro that they apparently adopted when they realized it was exactly halfway between her office and his. It doesn't help that the food is amazing and that the owner loves Oliver, so much so that Chloe jokes she's his other wife, the one that knows how to cook.

He likes to sit back and watch her as she tells him about her latest story. He loves how animated and passionate she gets when talks about a new lead. He's never seen this side of Chloe. All he knows of her is Watchtower, Big Sister looking out for everyone. But this Chloe; the reporter, the investigator, it's all new to him and for a minute he misses his Chloe. It doesn't take long to figure out that his Chloe and this Chloe are one in the same. That she didn't have to sacrifice one to become the other.

Halfway through lunch one day she cuts herself off in mid story about digging through a dumpster downtown looking for a bag of shredded paper from Senator McAlister's office she gets a text and smiles up at him. "I'd been hoping we could have put this off for a bit longer, but I supposed there's no time like the present."

"For what exactly?" Oliver frowned as she dropped a few twenties on the table and stood up.

"We need to go to Watchtower," she said and grabbed her bag.

"I have a meeting this afternoon I can't just go off to Metropolis," Oliver called, jogging to catch up with her as she hurried down the street.

"No, _our_ Watchtower," Chloe laughs and something his stomach clenches when she calls it theirs. "It's just a few blocks over." He follows her to a very nondescript building smack in the heart of downtown Star City. It's not brand new construction by any means. The building itself is probably over a hundred years old but it's not exactly a historical landmark either. The exterior could probably use some updating, the stone is crumbling in places and cracked in others. There is no sign, no plaque on the door, nothing to indicate what type of business is done inside its walls and Oliver tells Chloe that he would have just passed it by without a second thought if she hadn't stopped.

"That's sort of the point," she told him pulling a set of keys out of her purse and unlocking the single lock on the front door. He raises his eyebrows at the rather simple security and she just laughs. "It would defeat the whole purpose if there was a state of the art key pad retinal scanner don't you think?"

"Good point," Oliver nodded pushing and holding the door open for her. There lobby was bare save a few overstuffed chairs, a table with some People Magazines that were probably new back in Oliver's time, and a very large round reception desk. The desk had a surprising lived in feel to it, though Oliver was sure no one actually manned it. There were picture frames with random, generic looking friends and family, a small stuffed monkey draped over the computer monitor and a half empty message book sitting next to the phone, with a pen lying haphazardly on top of it, ready to be picked up and used to take a message.

There was a sign on the top of the desk proclaiming that someone would be back in five minutes and Chloe pushed it and leaned over the desk top. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard as she punched in a string of random letters and numbers. The steel door on the other side of the room popped open and she slid back down to her feet, motioning for Oliver to follow her.

He heard the door lock behind him with a deafening clang and Chloe led him down a long corridor with flickering fluorescent lights over head. Her steps seemed a bit more hurried as they came to a dead end. Oliver looked around confused until he noticed Chloe slide a panel up on the wall beside her to reveal a biometric scanner. She slapped her palm on the screen and leaned down to look into a retinal scanner. The wall in front of them suddenly slid up to reveal a freight elevator.

Chloe stepped inside and Oliver followed suit as she closed and secured the grate and then punched in another complicated code on a keypad. The elevator lurched upward slowly and he could see Chloe out of the corner of his eye, her fingers tapping nervously on the side of her leg as she stared at the elevator door, wiling it to move faster. For the first time Oliver realized that this probably wasn't a routine visit. "Is everything ok?"

Chloe looked over almost surprised to see him there and offered him a smile that he didn't buy for a second. "Don't know yet," she offered and left it at that. "I briefed you on all the players but it's the middle of the day so it shouldn't be too crowded. Oracle will be there, probably Lucas, I'm not sure if Diana's still there or not. You'll be ok?"

He nodded. Chloe had given him a run down on all the heroes based out of Star City that he could probably run into. He figured as long as no one wanted to sit down and have an in depth heart to heart he'd be able to hold his own.

Lucas shouldn't be a problem, he was eager to please and more than eager to get out into the field but Chloe wasn't sure that he was ready yet so she gave assigned him to the Watchtower to help out Oracle with the promise that one day he'd get to be a real member of the team.

Oliver was actually looking forward to meeting Oracle. Chloe had told him all about her. She was Chloe's right hand man, her first real protégé and it was obvious how proud Chloe was of the girl. Oliver was already impressed and he hadn't even met her yet. Back in the day she'd worked with Batman as the original Batgirl until she'd taken a bullet to her spine. It paralyzed her from the waist down, confining her to a wheel chair and effectively taking her out of the hero business. She'd sunk into a deep depression and Batman didn't know what to do until Chloe had said to leave it to her.

She'd brought the girl to Star City, made her realize that even though she couldn't be out in the field she still had just as much to contribute as she did before, if not even more. Chloe showed her that working at the Watchtower she could help out so many more people and still have everyone's backs. Eventually she took over Watchtower full time, freeing Chloe up to do what she did best, what she'd come to Star City to do. She sought out the people who were just a little bit different, who could maybe do something that no one else could and she let them know that they weren't alone, that they could do something special, that they could be heroes.

Eventually Oracle turned the Star City Watchtower into the JLA's main headquarters, overseeing all International and Stateside operations, leaving Tess in Metropolis the luxury of dealing with things on a local scale, which was more than enough work for her considering helping out Superman was a full time job in and of itself.

Oliver did have to admit he was a bit nervous to meet Diana, Princess of the Amazon's. "_She's basically a female version of Clark,_" Chloe had said which did nothing to assuage Oliver's nerves.

The elevator stopped moving and Chloe threw the grate open stepping into the main room without waiting for Oliver. Oliver followed her out of the elevator and stopped in his tracks. Ever square inch of wall space was covered in computer monitors, each one displaying something different; news feeds, biometric monitoring, blueprints, comm traffic and more.

The space was huge, one large room that took up the entire floor but despite the size and all the tech it was still warm, Oliver would even go so far as to say cozy. The floors were a deep warn wood, probably original to the building, they looked liked they'd been sanded and refinished a few times. There was a small area in the back corner with a large comfortable looking couch and a few overstuffed chairs. The area looked lived in, there was an empty pizza box on the table in front of it and video game controllers on the couch cushions.

The space had no windows, but it didn't need any. They were on the top floor and when Oliver looked up he saw that the entire ceiling was one very large skylight; huge glass panels set into steel supports, laid out in an almost organic pattern.

"It's why I bought the place," Chloe said and he looked down to see her smiling at him softly.

"It's amazing," Oliver looked back up.

"Talk to me," Chloe called out into the room and Oliver was surprised when her voice didn't echo.

"He's still in with the Doc," a red head said from her spot in the middle of the room, surrounded by six monitors. She spun her chair toward whatever monitor required her attention at any given moment, typed something on the keyboard lying in her lap before moving onto something else. Oliver figured this was Oracle.

"Tell me what happened," Chloe walked over and pushed gently at the bottom of one of the monitors. It retracted up toward the ceiling allowing Chloe to get face to face with Oracle.

"We think it was a trap," Oracle said pulling her glasses off and rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Whether didn't come alone."

"Eiling?" Chloe asked and Oracle nodded. "I really thought he was ready to listen."

"So did we," Oracle told her softly.

"So what happened?"

"Diana didn't give me all the details but when they realized it was a trap he told her to go, get back up, that he would create a diversion. By the time she got back with John, Eiling and Whether were gone and he was just lying there."

"Conscious?" Chloe asked and Oracle shook her head.

"Hey Mr. Queen, glad to have you back," A voice said from his side and Oliver turned startled to see a kid standing there, huge mischievous grin on his face. He reminded him a bit of Bart actually.

"Hey Lucas," Oliver said, taking a shot in the dark. The kid hadn't been in the room before he would have seen him, and Oliver remembered Chloe telling him that Lucas could teleport. "How's it going?"

"Bad day," Lucas shook his head. "I've never seen Hal like that before you know. He was so…quiet."

"Yeah," Oliver swallowed and looked over at Chloe who was talking to Oracle. Hal had been injured, no wonder she was so antsy.

"Do we know where Whether is now?" Chloe asked.

"No, he's off the grid again, no trace," Oracle said annoyed as if it were her fault.

"Keep looking," Chloe patted the girl on the shoulder and walked over toward Oliver and Lucas, sliding a hand into Lucas hair and messing it up a bit. The kid pulled away but Oliver could tell he didn't really mind. "Lucas, do me a favor, tell the Doc I'll be down there in a minute?"

"Sure thing boss," Lucas winked at her and when Oliver blinked he was gone.

"He reminds me of Bart," Oliver said out loud and Chloe laughed.

"He'd take that as a compliment," she said and walked over to one of the monitors. She swiped her fingers across the bottom, bringing up a blank screen and then tapped on it in a seemingly random spot. Suddenly Oliver was looking at Victor. "Hey Cyborg,"

"I'm already on it Watchtower," Victor smiled at her. "I've got anyone available in the field looking for Eiling and Pulse 8. Nothing so far but I'm not giving up."

"Do you think it's worth it to reach out to Sawyer?" Chloe asked and Victor paused.

"He trusts us less than he trusts Eiling but anything's worth a try," Victor shrugged. "I'll get Superman right on it."

"Thanks," Chloe let out a deep breath.

"Tower," Victor asked hesitantly. "If we find him…"

"Bring him in," Chloe said.

"Tower," Victor said more sternly this time.

"Bring him in," Chloe said looking up straight into Victor's eyes. "If we can get him away from Eiling I know we can get through to him." She stopped when Victor shook his head, just slightly, Oliver almost missed it. "You don't agree?"

"I think he's dangerous," Victor said. "I think it's dangerous to try and bring him in when we don't even know that he'll listen."

Chloe was quiet for a while and Oliver shook his head. This sounded like a familiar argument. In fact he'd been in Victor's place not too long ago, arguing the exact same thing to Clark about David Bloom. "He didn't ask for this, it was done to him," Chloe said softly, "You of all people should be able to understand that. Eiling is lying to him, lying to them all. He's using them for his own motives and he's killing them. If we can help, we have to try."

It was Victor's turn to be quiet now and Oliver could tell he was struggling with knowing that Chloe was right, and worrying what would happen if she was wrong. "We'll bring him in." Victor said and Chloe nodded before the screen went black.

"Doc says you can come down when you want," Lucas said from Chloe's side. "He's awake now and driving everyone up the wall."

"That sounds about right," Chloe smiled and walked away, nodding for Oliver to follow her. They got back in the elevator and went down a few floors. The first thing Oliver noticed when the doors opened was Hal's voice; he was arguing with someone, loudly. The second thing he noticed was that this whole floor was stark white. White ceiling, white floor, white walls. The third thing he noticed was the woman standing there waiting for them to get off the elevator and when he saw her he couldn't believe that she wasn't the first thing he noticed.

"I am so sorry," the woman said as Chloe got out of the elevator.

"So not your fault Di," Chloe offered the woman a smile. Oliver smiled, of course, Diana the Amazon.

"I shouldn't have left him, I should have stayed. The moment we knew it was a trap I…I shouldn't have left him," Diana slumped against the opposite wall.

Chloe opened her mouth to say something when a scream broke through the air. "Get that needle away from me or I swear to God!" Chloe laughed and shook her head.

"He sounds fine to me," Chloe said and Diana laughed hard. "Come on, let's go save Doc Roberts."

Diana nodded and slung an arm over Chloe' shoulder, pulling her down the hall. Oliver followed behind them as Chloe constantly reassured the other woman that what happened was not her fault. They got to a door and Diana reached for the knob but noticed that Chloe had stopped and was staring through the glass. "Chlo?" Diana looked over at her.

"You go on ahead, I just…I need a second." Diana nodded and walked into the room as Oliver walked up beside Chloe and looked through the glass window.

Hal had been sitting on what looked like a hospital bed but jumped up as soon as Diana walked into the room. His entire chest was one bright red bruise, already turning purple around the edges. His ribs were bandaged and there was gauze on both of his ears but he was still smiling. He felt Chloe's hand slip into his and he gave it a little squeeze. This wasn't about whether or not he was 'her' Oliver at the moment, this was just about him being there for her.

"He was almost crushed." Chloe said quietly. "Pulse 8, he can manipulate gravitational fields. He almost crushed Hal with nothing but the air around him. He made it so heavy, surrounded him with it, it busted his eardrums, cracked his ribs. If it weren't for the ring, he would have eventually just…crumpled in on himself." Oliver looked over and saw tears falling down Chloe's face. She brought up her free hand to wipe them away.

"It was my call," Chloe said. "General Eiling created a group of super powered soldiers. He told them they were serving their country, told them they were heroes and then used them for his own twisted revenge scheme. They're dying, the process he used is killing them and we can save them. But they think we're the enemy. They think we're public enemy number one in fact and all we want to do is help. I sent him in there to talk to Pulse, to convince him we could help, to convince him that he needed our help. To maybe even try and get them on our side. It was my call," Chloe took a deep breath and then walked in the door.

"Chloe, seriously get me out of here." Hal said as Oliver slipped in the room.

"Has he been cleared?" Chloe asked the Doctor, a woman in her mid thirties who looked just as ready to have Hal gone as he was ready to leave.

"I'm still waiting on the results of the CAT scan." Doctor Roberts said and Chloe turned to Hal and glared at him.

"Sit," she pointed to the bed and Hal grumbled but sat back down.

Diana smirked. "So if you're not gonna die then I've got some paperwork."

"Oh paperwork. You wanna help me out, take care of that for me?" Hal asked and Diana looked ready to tell him that he could do his own damn paperwork but he winced and clutched at his ribs and her eyes softened a bit. "Just this once."

"You're the best." Hal winked at her and Diana rolled her eyes.

Oliver turned to Diana as she walked to the door and smiled. "You know he just played you right?" Oliver asked and Diana nodded.

"Yeah but I owe him one," she shrugged and walked out the door and Oliver walked over to Hal as Chloe talked to the doctor.

"And word on Eiling or Pulse 8?" Hal asked and Oliver shook his head.

"Oracle said he's gone off grid and Vic's got all available on the lookout," Oliver said.

"He should send Clark to talk to Sawyer," Hal winced as he pulled his shirt back on.

"Chloe's a step ahead of you on that already." Oliver smiled and Hal shook his head.

"Of course she is." Hal said buttoning up the shirt. Oliver looked down and saw the dried blood, probably from his ears running down the front. "She's pissed isn't she?" Hal asked and Oliver realized he was talking about Chloe.

"She was worried," Oliver shrugged. "She'll be pissed when she's sure you're ok though. She blames herself because it was her call to try and bring him in."

"It was her call but it my idea," Hal said. "I set up the meet, I convinced him to see us. I should have known he wasn't ready."

"You still alive?" Chloe asked when she walked over.

"For the time being," Hal said. "As long as you don't have any plans to kill me in the near future."

"Nah, I'm super busy with this story about Senator McAllister accepting bribes from the planning commission. I really just don't have the time," she forced a smile on her face and then reached out and wiped a bit of dried blood from under his nose. "Seriously, you ok?"

"I'm ok." He nodded. "I'm not giving up on him."

"I know," Chloe said. He knew that call was hard for her to make upstairs and it was almost like Hal's declaration made it just a bit easier.

"I don't understand," Oliver said. "Why are the both of you are so adamant on bringing this guy in? Wouldn't it be safer in the long run to just take him out?"

"That's what everyone else thinks. Hell three years ago I would have been saying the same thing."

"What happened three years ago?" Oliver frowned.

"Chloe." Hal smiled softly. "She found me about five years ago out in Coast City. I was doing my thing, using my powers for good and all but she showed me that I could be a part of something bigger, a part of team and I jumped at the chance. You were the first person I met when I walked into the Watchtower and it was like you just knew me and from then on it was the three of us against the world. They called us the Three Musketeers," Hal laughed then got suddenly serious. "About three years ago, something happened. I was possessed by this alien entity."

"Something the two of you have in common." Oliver said and Hal smiled, obviously he'd been told about Brainiac.

"I'm not the only Green Lantern, I'm just the only human one. There's a whole society of us, a whole race, we're almost like a family. When this thing took over my body, took over my power, it slaughtered them, almost destroyed them all. Then it turned its sights on you guys, on earth. No one knew what to do, they didn't think there was anything they could do. I-it was too powerful. They wrote me off, gave the order to execute on sight if possible. But not you guys. You tried to stop me. You and Chloe were convinced that I was still in there somewhere. You went rogue, did everything you could to bring me back. You found me and it almost killed you, it should have killed you but I couldn't let it. I fought against it, it took everything I had in me but I fought, to save you and I won." Oliver just stared at him as he told his story.

"A lot of other stuff went down after that and when the smoke cleared no one really trusted me anymore and I was in a really bad place. All the things that I'd done, even thought it wasn't really me, I didn't think I'd ever be able to get over that and I wasn't sure I wanted to. I didn't think I was worth it. But Chloe did. She refused to give up on me, refused to let me give up on myself. She pulled me back from a really bad place and I wouldn't be the person I am today if it weren't for her."

"Yeah that's sort of her specialty. Believing in people more than they believe in themselves."

"That's Chloe in a nut shell," Hal nodded. "She didn't give up on me and I'm not gonna give up on them. They didn't chose and this and they don't have to live like this and they sure as hell don't have to die like this. If there's something I can do, I have to try, because if I don't, I'm not sure I could live with myself knowing I could have done more."

Oliver nodded, cause that made sense. "Ok," Chloe walked back over with a folder in her hands. "CAT scan was clear but you're tied to a desk until Doc Roberts clears you for field duty."

"Come on, I'm fine." Hal tried to protest but as he jumped to his feet he doubled over in pain, clutching at his ribs.

"Yeah, you're totally fine." Chloe snorted. "You're barely fit to be left on your own, you're lucky I'm not dragging your ass back to the house. If it weren't for the construction you'd be laid up in my guest room right now."

"I thought your guest room was full at the moment," Hal raised his eyebrows and then looked over at Oliver.

Chloe rolled her eyes, "We've got more than one," she told him and he nudged her shoulder.

They all went back up to the main room and Chloe forced Hal down onto the plush couch and when he reached for the game controller she shot him a look and then assigned Lucas to keep an eye on him to make sure he didn't strain himself. Hal groaned and complained for about fifteen minutes because Lucas does whatever Chloe tells him to do, no questions, no interpretations.

"I've got a meeting," Oliver said when he finally checked his watch.

"I was gonna stay for a little while longer," Chloe said. "Coordinate with Vic and maybe touch base with Dinah in Europe."

"I'll walk him out," Hal said pulling himself to his feet. "I'm heading home anyway."

"Will you be home for dinner?" Oliver asked Chloe, partly because it felt like something a husband would ask his wife and partly because he'd gotten used to eating with her.

"Probably not." Chloe shook her head.

"Promise me you'll eat something," Oliver said, dropping a kiss to her forehead. "You barely touched your lunch."

"I'll try," Chloe said.

"Lucas," Oliver called out as he stepped in the elevator. "Make sure she eats dinner."

"Yes sir," Lucas smiled brightly. "I'll go get it myself."

Chloe glared at Oliver as he closed the elevator grate then turned back to her work station. "So Mrs. Queen, what do you think you might like for dinner?"

"I'm really not hungry Lucas," Chloe brushed him off.

"But Mr. Queen said—"

"I know what Mr. Queen said," Chloe turned to him. "But I'm not hungry."

"Yes ma'am," Lucas nodded and walked away, knowing a dismissal when he hears one.

"Skipping lunch and dinner?" Oracle asked from across the room. "Is there some dress you're trying to fit into for some charity thing?"

Chloe smiled. "No, my stomach's just been a little uneasy lately. The thought of food makes me nauseous and what I do manage to eat I can't seem to keep down. It's probably just a mild case of stomach flu."

"Or you're pregnant," Oracle said jokingly but Chloe froze, her fingers hovering over the table top. She clenched her hands into fists when they started to shake and dropped them to her side.

"Son of a bitch," she whispered.


	4. Chapter 4

Oliver's leg shook under the table as he looked around the bar. It was dark and smelled like stale smoke and even staler beer. The floor was sticky with an amalgam of spilt drinks and sweat and something else Oliver really didn't want to think about. John turned to him and coughed and Oliver realized he was shaking the whole table. "Sorry." Oliver sighed and leaned back in his seat. "_She_ picked this place?"

"Yes, she said she had some business here, wanted to kill two birds with one stone if you will." John frowned as the music started up again and a blonde woman sauntered out onto the stage in front of them, shaking her hips as she removed her top.

"I'm almost positive my wife would not approve of this," Oliver said, his eyes tracking the blonde's movements for no more than a second until he turned to look anywhere else. John smiled at him and Oliver frowned. "What?"

"You just called her your wife," John pointed out.

"I—" Oliver stopped, he hadn't meant to, it had, sort of, just come out.

"It's ok, you know," John offered. "To be in love with your wife."

"I'm not _in love _with Chloe," Oliver said.

"You're totally in love with her," Hal scoffed, dropping down into the chair next to Oliver. "It's kind of impossible _not_ be in love with her. Bart's in love with her, hell, I'm a bit in love with her myself." Hal smirked then winked at the waitress as she dropped a drink in front of him.

"I'm not in love with her," Oliver insisted, more forcibly this time. He wasn't in love with Chloe. He wasn't sure he was even ready for love yet but there was definitely something there. He wanted her, he knew that. Hell, _she_ knew that which only served to make things just this side of awkward when the two of them were together. He liked her, probably more than he should and she was in love with a version of him that didn't exist yet so the whole thing was just a bit messed up.

Oliver grabbed the drink from Hal before he could take the first sip and set it back on the waitress' retreating tray, reminding the other man with a raise of his eyebrows that he was on some pretty serious pain killers. Hal huffed in annoyance and moved to protest but stopped when he saw the napkin that had been under the glass. He lifted it up for Oliver to see the waitress' phone number before slipping it in his pocket. "What are you doing here again?" Oliver asked him, annoyed.

"You need me for moral support," Hal said, slightly offended and it was Oliver's turn to scoff. "Fine. I don't trust Zatanna," Hal told him truthfully.

"So then this is you looking out for me?" Oliver asked and Hal flashed him a smirk.

"Hello, boys," a voice said and they all turned around to see Zatanna clad in her traditional Tuxedo jacket and fishnet stockings. She was tapping her top hat softly against her thigh and smiling down at them mischievously. John stood up and pulled out the spare chair for her. She offered him a soft smile and sat down, crossing her legs dramatically before setting her hat on the edge of the table.

No one said anything as the music stopped and started back up and the DJ introduced yet another girl onto the center stage. Zatanna tilted her head after a minute, confused. "Guys, you called me, remember?"

"Yes, right." John coughed. "Oliver has a problem."

"In the bedroom?" Zatanna looked around the strip club and Oliver glared at her, wanting to remind her that the choice of meeting places was her idea, not his, but she waved his protests off. "It was a joke, give me your hand," she said, suddenly serious and Oliver held his hand out to her. She flipped it over and traced her finger down the lines on his palm and with every line her brow furrowed even more. She looked up at Oliver, releasing his hand and leaning back in her seat. "Huh. I've been wondering when you were gonna show up. So, what's going on in 2009? It's been ages since I've been there. Well, ten years."

"Did you tell her?" Oliver turned to John who shook his head. "How did you know?"

"Ten years ago you showed up at my door at four in the morning talking about time travel and insisting I send you back into the future." Zatanna smirked. "At first I just thought you were drunk because, let's face it, you were drunk quite a lot back in 2009." Oliver sighed, he was really tired of hearing about what a completely screwed up bastard he was in 2009. "Then you calmed down and explained everything and it all made sense."

"It did?" Oliver asked.

"Well, no, time travel rarely makes sense, but at least I didn't think you were crazy anymore," Zatanna said.

"Can you send me back?" Oliver asked her.

"Maybe." Zatanna shrugged. "But I'm not going to."

"Why not?"

"Because I _didn't_," Zatanna said and Hal groaned.

"And once again, you have been extremely unhelpful. At least this trip wasn't a total bust," he said, patting his pocket where he'd stashed the waitress' phone number and made a move to stand up. Oliver put a hand on his shoulder and shoved him back down into his seat.

"Time isn't something you just mess around with and there's a reason for that." Zatanna glared at Hal and Oliver understood then that the distrust seemed to be mutual. "Look, your future is my past. For me it already happened so I know how you got home and it wasn't me. So if I were to send you back to then, not only would it change your future, but it would change my past which would then likely change everyone's future. So, no. Even if I could send you back, I won't."

"I hate time travel," Hal groaned, but looked slightly mollified.

"So then how did I get home? In your past?" Oliver asked.

"You said there was something in the future that you needed to see, needed to learn and when that happened you'd be sent back." Zatanna paused, just long enough for Oliver to notice.

"But?" he pressed.

"You didn't want to be there," Zatanna told him honestly. "You were desperate to come back here, in fact, begging me to send you back to this time."

"Why?" Oliver paled. "Did something happen? Does something happen?" Zatanna paused again and Oliver swallowed. "Is it Chloe?"

"Oliver, I'm sorry, I can't tell you," Zatanna said, genuinely sorry this time.

"You can't or you won't?" he asked desperately.

"A little of both," Zatanna told him. "It's nothing bad, ok? You just-you weren't ready to come back yet. Look, it's not just that time shouldn't be messed around with; it's that there are honestly very few people that _can_ mess around with it. And I'm not one of them. Something like this is above my pay grade, but I might know some people. Let me make a few calls. See what I can dig up."

"I'd appreciate it," Oliver said. "I'll let you get back to work." He nodded at the table in the corner that Zatanna had been keeping one eye on the whole meeting. "You need any help?"

"Nah, I can handle this guy." Zatanna stood up and put the hat on her head, winking at them before she sauntered away.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver pulled on the knot of his tie, loosening it just a bit as he opened the back door and walked into the kitchen. The house was totally dark. The construction crews had long since gone and with Chloe working late for the first time since Oliver had come to Star City the house was completely empty. He paused in the doorway because it just didn't feel right somehow, being there when she wasn't, sort of like he was a guest in his own home.

It was strange, he'd been independent basically his whole life. Even his longest relationship, Tess, had never made it to the moving in together stage so he was used to living on his own. But after a month of having Chloe around it was like he didn't know what to do with himself. He turned the TV on and put it on Sports Center just to have some sort of background noise while he fixed dinner but barely paid attention to what was being said.

He watched the game while he ate but couldn't really concentrate. Sometimes Chloe would sit next to him and spend the game asking him questions about the players or the rules. When she was there, he found it annoying, but now that she wasn't he kind of missed it.

He turned the game off before the fourth inning and tried to do some work but he couldn't concentrate on that for very long either. He pulled out his phone and hesitated just a second before calling Chloe. It rang once then went to voicemail and that annoyed him but he all he could do was leave a message. "Hey, it's almost midnight, I haven't heard from you since I left the Watchtower and you're not back yet. I'm assuming you're still alive," he said a bit bitterly, then stopped and forced himself to take a deep breath. "Sorry, it's been a long day. I'm gonna go to bed, so…yeah."

Oliver hung up feeling angry, annoyed, and, if he was honest, a little worried but he didn't know what to do about it. He wasn't sure if there was anything he could do about it. Sure, technically he was her husband, but he wasn't. He lay in bed for an hour, listening for the sound of her car coming up the driveway or for her key in the lock downstairs, but he didn't hear anything and eventually he managed to fall asleep.

When Oliver woke up the next morning, it wasn't to the smell of freshly brewed coffee but the sound of Chloe's alarm going off. He dragged himself out of bed and down the hall to the master bedroom and slammed a hand down on top of it, cutting the incessant beeping off abruptly. He stared down at Chloe's perfectly made, un-slept in bed and rubbed his eyes as he allowed himself to fall down onto the mattress.

This was the first time he'd actually been in the master bedroom, well, the first time since he was a kid. He could remember bursting into the room early on Saturday mornings and jumping in the bed with his mom and dad. Eventually his dad would grudgingly wake up, toss Oliver over his shoulder and carry him downstairs so they could make breakfast for his mom. He could also remember sneaking into the room in the middle of the night after having a bad dream, standing quietly in the doorway until his dad lifted up a corner of the comforter for him. Oliver would crawl under the covers and burrow in between his parents and fall straight back to sleep, feeling warm and safe.

The room hadn't changed much. There was a fresh coat of soft green paint on the walls and the floors had been refinished in here just like the rest of the house. His parent's furniture was gone, replaced with newer stuff. It wasn't what he would have chosen on his own and from what he knew about Chloe it wasn't exactly her style either. It was…_their_ style. When he looked harder at the pieces, he could see both himself and Chloe in them, a blend of the two of them which was weird and oddly comforting.

The mattress was ridiculously comfortable and he couldn't help but lay back a little, resting his head against the pillows. He smelled that familiar _Chloe_ smell and took in a deep breath, unable to help himself. He turned his head away from the pillow quickly, away from the smell before he did something embarrassing that he'd live to regret later. When he opened his eyes again, they landed on a picture sitting on the bedside table.

He reached out and grabbed the frame studying the image intensely. Younger versions of Chloe and himself were staring back at him, badly contained smiles on their faces. It looked almost as if seconds before the picture had been taken they'd been laughing uncontrollably and just barely managed to get it together long enough to take the picture.

Something in him twinged and he sat up in the bed frowning. He wondered what had been so funny, wondered if he'd ever get to experience that moment, laugh at that joke. He was suddenly very conscious of all of the things in Chloe's and his relationship that he'd missed, all the history between them that he didn't even know about and might not ever get to know about. He found himself missing things that never happened, for him anyway.

At the minute though, he mostly found himself missing Chloe. He put the picture back on the bedside table and walked down the hall and into the guest room. Pulling his phone off of the bedside table, he dialed Chloe's number again and was almost surprised when she answered on the second ring.

"Hey," Oliver said, caught slightly off guard.

"_Hey_," Chloe answered him, her voice a bit soft and a lot tired.

"You…didn't come home last night," Oliver said lamely. He resisted the urge to slap himself in the head because, obviously, she knew that.

"_Oh_." She seemed almost relieved by this statement, like she'd been expecting to hear condemnation for something different. "_Yeah, I had to take a last minute trip to Metropolis to help Victor with the search for Pulse 8_."

"You didn't call," Oliver said, congratulating himself on the strength he showed by not also mentioning that she hadn't answered any of his calls or returned any of his messages.

"_I_ _know, I'm sorry. It was just so last minute and I meant to, I did, but it was so late and…I'm still alive_," Chloe said. The joke was bad and Oliver knew it was meant to let him know she'd gotten his messages but it just served to annoy him more. Knowing she'd gotten the message and still ignored it was worse than if she'd never gotten it at all.

He wanted to tell her that. He had the strangest urge to start a fight with Chloe, if only to have her pay attention to him, _any_ kind of attention to him. Instead he bit his tongue because starting a fight sounded so...domestic to him. "Good, that's—that's good to know."

They were quiet for a second and then started talking again at the same time.

"Look—"

"_I'm_—"

"You go." Oliver laughed a bit and Chloe let out a breath.

"_I really am sorry, Oliver. I should have called. It's just yesterday was such a long day, and that's no excuse, I know, I just forgot_," Chloe told him.

"It's fine." He sighed, defeated, and sat down on the edge of the bed. He could tell by the silence that she didn't really believe him, which was probably because he was lying. "Seriously, Chloe, it's cool. I mean, I'm not your husband. You don't have to let me know where you are all the time."

"_Oliver—"_

"I have a meeting this morning and I need to get ready. Call me whenever you feel like it, I guess." Oliver hung up before Chloe could retort. So much for not starting a fight.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Chloe stared down at her phone and wondered how fighting with a man who was not her husband could feel exactly like fighting with her husband. "You didn't tell him?" Tess asked and Chloe turned, she'd forgotten the other woman was in the room with her.

"Not until I'm sure." Chloe shook her head and dropped her phone in her purse. She shifted a bit on the uncomfortable exam table, the paper gown crunching noisily as she moved. Chloe looked back over at Tess who was swaying slightly from side to side, Noah sound asleep in her arms.

"Chloe?" Tess looked up at her, shifting Noah in her arms slightly. "Is there something else going on?" Tess frowned and sat down.

Chloe shrank in on herself; she'd never been able to hide anything from Tess. When she'd finally convinced Lucas to bring her to Metropolis, Tess had been surprised to see Chloe but the visit was far from unwelcome. Chloe had told her she'd come to see Noah and Tess had taken her explanation at face value because it made sense. He'd grown so much since Chloe had seen him last; the daily pictures Tess sent her didn't do him justice.

Tess had let Chloe put him down for the night and as they stared at him sleeping peacefully in the crib, all Tess had said was Chloe's name and suddenly she was sobbing in Tess' arms on the floor of the nursery. After about twenty minutes she'd managed to let out a choked, "I think I'm pregnant."

Tess had taken over immediately, dragging her to the bathroom and forcing her to take one of the home pregnancy tests she had left over and when it came out positive she went straight to Emil who promised to fit Chloe in first thing in the morning and get a real test done. Chloe had nodded her thanks numbly and excused herself to the guest room before passing out, utterly exhausted.

Tess hadn't said anything that morning as they drove to the Watchtower. She'd run interference with Victor and the others so no one would know that Chloe was in town. Now she was looking at her with this strange look and Chloe had this urge to spill her guts, and not just about Oliver and the baby, but about the time in fifth grade when she stole a pack of gum from the corner convenience store. Chloe was reminded once again of how glad she was Tess was on their side. Chloe opened her mouth to confess, but was saved when Emil walked back into the room.

"So, everything looks good. You're about seven weeks along and it seems to be going very smoothly." Emil closed his file and smiled up at her.

"So, I'm pregnant?" Chloe asked, letting out a long breath as Emil nodded and then she burst into tears again.

Tess set Noah down in his carrier and walked over to her. "Honey, this is good news, I thought this was good news, why isn't this good news?" Tess asked, rubbing her back.

"Because the baby's not Oliver's," Chloe sobbed out and Tess and Emil looked at each other over her head, their eyes wide. The whole story came spilling out then, even the bit about stealing the gum in fifth grade.

"That is certainly complicated." Emil frowned when she was finished. "But, biologically speaking, the baby is still genetically Oliver's—" Emil cut himself off after a single glare from Tess.

"Honey," Tess said, sighing and pulled Chloe into a hug while Emil backed out of the room slowly.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver walked out of yet another meeting, resisting the urge to lock himself in his office, lay his head on the desk, and take a quick nap. He hadn't really slept in a week, hadn't done much of anything actually. Chloe was still in Metropolis but she'd gone back to ignoring his calls and Oliver didn't have to be married to her for ten years to know that something was wrong. Hal had seen her a few times but hadn't told Oliver anything except a very curt, "_You need to fix this_," the first time he'd gotten back from Metropolis.

Oliver had asked him how he was supposed to fix it when he didn't even know what was wrong. Hal hadn't had an answer for that one. He pulled out his phone and checked it for the hundredth time, not really expecting to find anything from Chloe but hoping. He was surprised, however, to find Tess' name on his message screen.

His assistant reminded him that he had yet another meeting across town in five minutes and he nodded, heading for the elevators as he opened up the message.

_Get to Metropolis ASAP_

Oliver dialed Chloe's number immediately and it went straight to voicemail. He tried Tess after that but he got the same thing. He grunted in frustration as he stabbed the button for the lobby violently. When the doors finally opened he tore through the lobby and out into the street, glad he'd decided on the driver today instead of driving himself. "Airport," Oliver said as the man opened the door for him.

He was paid well not to ask any questions and took the change in destination in stride, deftly pulling out into traffic and heading for the airport. Oliver got on the phone with his pilot and only relaxed when he was assured the jet would be ready and waiting for him when he got to the tarmac.

The flight was nerve wracking as he still couldn't seem to get anyone on the phone. His stomach churned the entire time they were up in the air, making him regret the sushi he'd had at lunch. Even more than that he regretted his conversation with Chloe the week before, what he'd said to her and the way he'd said it. (If Chloe had been in Metropolis for a week then he wouldn't have talked to her that morning. Maybe say a week ago.)

His bike was waiting for him when he landed and he sped through the streets of Metropolis, skidding to a halt in front of the Watchtower. He stormed into the building, startling everyone as he screamed for Chloe. "Where is she?" Oliver grabbed Victor by the shoulders, who looked a bit freaked out, but even more confused.

"I don't know," Victor stuttered, looking at Oliver strangely. "Dude?" Victor looked down to where Oliver's grip was white knuckled on Victor's shoulder and Oliver let him go.

"Chloe said she was here helping you with the search for Pulse 8," Oliver explained. "And then I got a text from Tess telling me to get here as fast as I could."

"I haven't seen Chloe, Oliver, I don't know what to tell you." Victor turned back to his computer screen as Oliver ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. She'd lied to him, which was something he was definitely going to talk to her about as soon as he figured out where she was and ascertained that she wasn't on the verge of death or something.

"Oliver." Emil walked up to him cautiously. "She's at our place." Oliver turned to the doctor who took an involuntary step back and he made himself take a deep breath and calm down. "She's fine," Emil assured him which went a long way to helping him with the whole calming down thing.

"Ok, good." Oliver turned around and headed for the door then stopped because he had no idea where the hell Emil's and Tess' place was.

"I'll take you," Emil offered, setting down his files and pulling his coat off. Oliver nodded because he couldn't exactly ask where their house was without looking suspicious. He folded himself into Emil's car and leaned back, the adrenaline leaving his body a bit shaky now that he knew Chloe was ok.

"She's fine?" Oliver asked again, just double checking. Emil flinched only slightly and Oliver really didn't like that, he also didn't like the way Emil's eyes were darting around frantically, looking everywhere but at him. "You would tell me if there was something wrong with my wife, wouldn't you?" And there it was, an almost imperceptible flinch at the word 'wife' and Oliver sighed. "She told you?"

"Yes," Emil said, relaxing slightly now that the truth was out.

"So then Tess knows?" Oliver asked and Emil nodded curtly. "Great," Oliver groaned, slouching in his seat a bit. "Tess hated me in 2009."

"Yes, well, we all did," Emil said, only half joking. "You were a bit of an ass." The joke fell flat, partly because there really was just too much truth in it to be funny. "But if it's any consolation, Tess wasn't much better than you back then."

"That's something to hold onto then," Oliver said, snorting.

They pulled up outside a very nice apartment building and Emil tossed his keys to the valet before leading Oliver to a bank of elevators. He knew this building well. He'd considered it when he first came to Metropolis, before he found the Clock Tower. It was expensive and modern and so unlike Emil that he figured this place was probably Tess' choice.

A door opened halfway down the hall when they stepped off the elevator and Tess stepped out, standing in the doorway, Noah cradled in her arms. She didn't say anything to them, just stared at Oliver as if he was a puzzle she couldn't figure out. "Where's Chloe?" Oliver asked, hating how shaky his voice sounded.

Tess stared at him for another second before stepping back to let them inside. "She's resting right now." Oliver made a move in the general direction of where he assumed the bedrooms to be but Tess stepped in his path, blocking his movement. "And you're not going to wake her up," she said firmly, glaring at him. "She needs her sleep."

"What's going on?" Oliver asked Tess who just continued to glare. He knew that look. That was Tess' _This-is-all-your-fault-look_. He'd seen that look on the island when they'd gotten caught trying to escape and he'd seen it right before she walked out the door after their relationship imploded. Whatever was going on she blamed him and that just wasn't fair.

"Look, I get it, the Oliver you knew back when was an ass to you but I could really do without the judging right now," Oliver said, annoyed at the whole situation. "Especially considering that I don't know what the hell it is I'm supposed to have done."

Tess softened a bit and sat down on the couch. "You're right, I'm sorry. It's just, my best friend's hurting right now and I don't know what to do to fix this and it's just so easy to blame you."

"I know the feeling." Oliver sighed and sat down next to her. "And hell, technically, it is my fault."

"You're just as much a victim in all this as she is. You didn't ask for this, Oliver," Tess reminded him.

"No, I didn't. But if I hadn't been such a jack ass, Chloe wouldn't have had to do what she did and none of this would have happened," Oliver said.

"It explains a lot though," Tess said after a minute. "I thought I was going crazy at first but, now, I get it."

"Get what?" Oliver turned to her.

"The way you looked at me, the way you've been looking at me since Mia's graduation. It's the way you used to look at me before, like you don't trust me," Tess said.

Oliver was quiet for a minute because he couldn't deny it. "I don't trust _her_, the Tess that I knew, back in my time. But you, I don't even really know you, do I?"

"The things I did to you, the things I haven't even done yet back in your time… you _shouldn't_ trust her, you know." Tess looked up at him. "But I have changed, Oliver. I will change."

"Trust me, I'm getting that," Oliver said. "Sometimes I look at you and I still see the Tess that I know; the one who will fight to her last breath for the people that she loves, the one who knows what she wants and isn't afraid to go after it." Oliver smiled. "But other times I look at you and I see a completely different person; someone I've never met before, someone I'd like to know better."

"Am I that different?" Tess asked him, laughing a bit.

Oliver looked down at the sleeping baby in her arms and then over her shoulder at Emil, puttering away in the kitchen and it was his turn to laugh. The noise woke up Noah and he wiggled, squishing his face up in the prelude to a scream before simply turning it into a yawn. Tess looked up to see Oliver staring down at Noah with a strange expression on his face and she smiled. "You want to hold him?" she asked softly and before he could decline she'd shoved the baby into his arms and given him no choice but to cradle Noah softly against his chest.

"How did you do it? How did you change?" Oliver asked, not looking up at her but staring down at Noah who was slowly blinking up at Oliver.

"You," Tess told him honestly. "Clark had a lot to do with it but, surprisingly, it was you who really made me believe I could be a better person. You had this unwavering faith in me that I know I didn't deserve. Even when you hated me, even when you didn't trust me, you were still telling me that I could be better, that you _knew_ I could be better. You made me want to prove you right. I still don't even really understand it."

"Maybe I _did_ know." Oliver shrugged, smiling up at her.

Something clicked in Tess' memory at that comment. He _had_ known. He'd come here, into the future and seen her, seen this, and then gone back to his time with that knowledge. He knew she could do it because he'd seen her do it. He'd known all along.

"You said something to me once," Tess said, her voice barely above a whisper as the full implication of everything sunk in. "You told me that one day you'd be holding my child, and when that day came, you'd be able to tell him what an amazing woman his mother was."

"Because she is," Oliver shrugged as he stared down at Noah, still not understanding what Tess was trying to tell him. "Your mother is an amazing woman."

Tess just stared at him until Oliver finally understood and looked up at her. "I thought you were crazy because having a kid was, like, the last thing on my mind but you knew it would happen because for you it had already happened."

Oliver sucked in a breath because he suddenly realized with a sort of clarity that he hadn't had since he'd gotten to this place, if what Tess said was true then at some point he really would be going home. And he honestly didn't know how he felt about that so he tried to make light of the whole thing. "Time travel gives me a headache," he joked.

Tess laughed then, a real open laugh this time and Oliver joined her, glad that he could find some humor in this situation at least. "Tess? Who are you—" They both stopped laughing when Chloe stepped out of the hall and stared at them. "Oliver." Chloe looked at him and he could read the guilt and the fear on her face and suddenly nothing was really all that funny anymore.

"I think you two need to talk," Tess said, sliding Noah out of Oliver's arms and elbowing him in the ribs.

"Yeah, I think we do." Chloe nodded and Oliver stood up nervously.

"You can use my room," Tess offered helpfully and Chloe nodded and turned back down the hall, Oliver following behind her.

"Hey," Oliver said cautiously from the doorway when it was just the two of them.

"Hey," Chloe breathed out.

They stood staring at each other for a minute before Oliver stepped into the room and closed the door. "So Tess thinks we need to talk."

Chloe sat down on the bed and took a deep breath before looking up at Oliver. "I'm pregnant."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Emil frowned when he saw Tess holding the baby monitor up to her ear. He looked down at the baby in her arms and then back to the monitor and sighed. "Tess."

She shushed him then waved him over. "She told him."

"Don't you think this should be a private conversation? Between Chloe and Oliver?" Tess just raised her eyebrows. This had been the reason she'd suggested her room because she knew the baby monitor was in there. Emil knew a losing battle when he saw one so he just settled next to her on the couch and listened in.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver sucked in a breath and sat down next to Chloe on the bed. "Pregnant?"

"Yep. Pregnant." Chloe nodded, taking another deep breath. "And I think we should get a divorce."

"No." He looked over at her, the word out of his mouth before he'd even finished thinking it.

"Oliver—"

"No." He jumped up and stared down at her.

"Just listen to me for a second." Chloe put a hand on his arm. "I'm not your wife. You didn't choose this life. You were just sort of dropped into it. You've been kind enough to play house with me for the past few weeks so as not to raise suspicion but, this…a baby…I can't ask you to do that."

"You don't_ have_ to ask," Oliver pointed out.

"Look, it's not up for discussion," Chloe said, wiping her eyes as she turned away. "I'll call the lawyers in the morning."

Oliver shook his head in disbelief. "And what happens when _your_ Oliver comes back to find himself divorced?"

"He'll understand," Chloe protested.

Oliver snorted. "He won't." Chloe tried to protest. "He _won't_. Because I don't."

"You don't get it, do you? You're going back, Oliver. I know that, I know that for a fact, but what I don't know is what happens to my Oliver when you do."

"He'll come back to you," Oliver said simply.

"No." Chloe shook her head. "You don't know that. Max got lost in the void. Oliver could get lost too," she added softly, voicing her concerns for the first time.

Oliver sighed and squatted down in front of her. "Max let himself get lost. Max wanted to get lost. There's no way your Oliver lets himself go a single minute longer without you then he absolutely has to." Chloe turned away from him, not believing him so he grabbed her face and forced her to look at him. "If he has to claw his way through time to get back to you, he will. Trust me. I know. I know because that's what I would do."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Good answer." Tess let out a breath and Emil silently agreed with her.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Do I get a say in this?" Oliver asked her and Chloe frowned at him. "Because I don't want a divorce."

"Oliver—"

"No." Oliver stepped closer to her. "Look, I know I'm not the husband you want but I'm the husband you've got. I'm not going to lie, the whole wife and kids thing has never really been on my radar but now that it's here, staring me in the face, I think I could be good at this. I think I'd like to try."

"Marriage…_raising a child_, isn't something you do because you think you'll be good at it." Chloe shook her head.

"I know that," Oliver said and sighed. "This is coming out all wrong."

"You don't even want to be here, Oliver," Chloe said.

"Of course I want to be here, what would make you think I don't want to be here?" he asked her incredulously.

"How was your meeting with Zatanna?" Chloe asked and Oliver froze, speechless.

"How did you know about that?"

"A woman does not meet another woman's husband in a strip club without informing her of it first." Chloe shook her head. "Look, this is all for the best, Oliver."

"I don't believe that, I can't believe it, and I don't think you do either," Oliver said.

"Things are just too confusing when I'm around you and I can't handle confusing right now."

"How are things confusing?" Oliver asked.

"Because as much as I've been trying to deny it, you _are_ my husband. In every way that matters, you are the man that I fell in love with, the man that I married. There are differences, obviously, but every day you remind me more and more of him. And it's so hard to see you in our house, in his office and not to-"

Oliver grabbed her and kissed her, cutting her off. She clutched at his shirt, her knuckles white with tension but she kissed him back. Her teeth scraped lightly at his bottom lip and her tongue followed after. Oliver pulled away and Chloe gasped in a breath of air, resting her forehead against his chest as she screwed her eyes tight. "And then you go and do something like that," she whispered and looked up at him, "qnd I never want to let you go."

Oliver cupped her jaw lightly, running his thumb along her cheek bone, wiping away the tears that were falling. "So don't."

"It's not that easy." Chloe sighed and took a step back, putting a bit of space between them.

"It _is_ that easy," Oliver said. "We can make it that easy."

"I'm scared," Chloe whispered and Oliver grabbed her and pulled her close, squeezing her tight.

"Yeah? Well, for once we're finally on equal footing because I'm absolutely terrified," Oliver said and she laughed. Oliver placed a soft kiss to her temple and she sighed, relaxing into his embrace. "Will you just…come home? Please."

"Yeah." Chloe nodded, not bothering to let go of him.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver's nose crinkled at the smell of smoke but he figured it was just a part of his dream. Only when he opened his eyes the smell didn't go away and before he could process what that might mean, the smoke alarm blared to life and he was up and out of the bed in an instant.

It took him less than two seconds to make it down the hallway and into the master bedroom. The fact that Chloe's bed was empty didn't ease the anxiety in his chest for a second and he turned and took the stairs two at a time. When his feet hit the last step he didn't even pause before he took off toward the kitchen. He could see the smoke now, billowing out of the kitchen door. He didn't stop until he saw her standing beside the open back door, waving the smoke out into the night air with the help of a cookie sheet.

Oliver glared at her as he bent forward and grabbed his knees, catching his breath. "What the hell are you doing?" he asked her, walking over to the pantry and pulling out the step stool. He put it under the smoke alarm and climbed up, disconnecting the battery to stop the beeping.

"Making cookies," Chloe said, dropping the cookie sheet and collapsing against the counter in exhaustion. Her eyes cut to the plate of tiny, little blackened lumps on the counter and Oliver raised his eyebrows at her. "Ok, I'm _trying_ to make cookies."

"At three in the morning?" Oliver asked. "Chloe, what's going on?"

"I couldn't sleep." Chloe shrugged. "And I started thinking…I can't cook."

"Yeah, I know." Oliver picked up one of the cookies and wrinkled his nose before dropping it back down to the plate. It made a very heavy thump and Oliver laughed.

"It's not funny," Chloe insisted. "I'm going to be a mom, Oliver. Normal moms cook, normal moms can make cookies, normal moms are not afraid of the stove."

"Wait, you're afraid of the stove?" Oliver stood up straighter.

Chloe glared at him. "I—it's the gas. Every time I turn it on I'm scared it's not going to catch right away and the gas is going to build up and then…explode. Hal says I'm being irrational but I'm _not_."

"Wait, you're scared to turn on the stove because you think it's going to explode and you don't think that's irrational?" Oliver asked her.

"I sent a man to the hospital, Oliver. He has no more eyebrows. The Doctors aren't sure if they'll ever grow back," Chloe reminded him.

"Ok." Oliver grabbed her shoulders. "Ok, you're right, completely rational. But we can work on that. I'll work on that with you. In the mean time, will you just promise me you won't try to cook anything unless I'm awake and preferably close by with a fire extinguisher?"

Chloe nodded grudgingly as Oliver's hand slid from her shoulder, down her arm, to grab her hand. "Come on, it's way past your bed time."

"I'm not really—"

"Chloe, you have to sleep." Oliver tugged her hand and pulled her out of the kitchen and toward the stairs.

"You don't understand, Oliver, I want to sleep, I do, I just…can't." Chloe stopped at the bottom of the stairs and pulled her hand from his. "The bed's too big and empty and the room's too quiet and it's stupid really. I've slept without him before, I do it a lot more than I'd like actually, between his job and my job and the JLA. But it's different this time because I know he's not in Tokyo on business and I know he's not out doing a job with the boys. He's just…gone."

Oliver smiled softly at her and grabbed her hand again. Wordlessly, he pulled her up the steps and down the hall and Chloe let him, curious as to what exactly he was doing. "In the bed," Oliver said, pushing her down on the edge of the mattress before walking out of the room.

"It's not going to work," Chloe called down the hall, watching him as he disappeared back into the guest room. Less than a minute later she saw the lights go off and then Oliver come back out, holding his phone.

He walked back into the room and dropped the phone on the bedside table and looked over at Chloe. "In the bed," he repeated and this time Chloe lay back and slid under the covers. Oliver smiled and climbed in the bed beside her, slipping in between the sheets. He maneuvered Chloe so that she was lying on her side her back pressed against his chest and then leaned over her and turned off her bedside lamp.

Chloe lay there in the dark for a few minutes, the feel of Oliver's arm heavy, yet reassuring across her stomach, his chest solid and familiar against her back. She could hear him breathing slowly, feel small puffs of air on the back of her neck and nothing had ever felt better in her life. "I'm pretty sure this is inappropriate," Chloe whispered into the dark room.

"Shut up and go to sleep, Sidekick," Oliver grumbled, half asleep already, nuzzling his nose behind her ear before placing a soft kiss at the top of her jaw.

"Yeah, ok," Chloe yawned and closed her eyes.

The first three months of the pregnancy were easy. Well, for Oliver anyway. Chloe had a pretty bad case of morning sickness, as well as afternoon, evening and middle of the night sickness. It was making it very difficult to keep the whole thing a secret. It wasn't that she didn't want to tell anyone it was just that it had taken her so long to actually conceive she didn't want to say anything publicly until they were out of danger.

Oliver hadn't understood at first, didn't know what danger she was talking about until he read something in one of the pregnancy books Chloe had brought home about the dangers of miscarriage in the first trimester. The thought that Chloe could lose the baby was almost too much for him to take and he hadn't realized until that moment how scared Chloe had been of the prospect.

He went into overdrive after that, reading every pregnancy book he could get his hands on. He made sure she took her pre-natal vitamin in the morning and showed up at the Gazette every day to take her to lunch, even if he knew she would probably throw the whole thing up an hour later. He gave her foot massages to relax her at night and absolutely forbid her from stepping foot into the Watchtower to spare her from any added stress.

He took over her duties when she complained and realized, not for the first time, just how amazing she was, juggling work and her JLA duties on top of being a wife to him and a cousin to Lois and a friend to Tess.

After a full day at the office, and then another couple of hours in the Watchtower, all Oliver wanted to do most nights was crawl into bed and sleep for fifteen hours. Normally he'd get around five if he was lucky though and then have to wake up and do it all over again. But he wasn't complaining. He wouldn't trade this experience for anything in the world.

He'd never forget the look on Chloe's face when she ran into the office, sliding a bit on the hardwood floors in her stocking feet and lifted her shirt up, showing Oliver the tiny, almost imperceptible baby bump that had just appeared. He'd never forget coming downstairs one morning to find her spreading Nutella on a cucumber slice before dipping the whole thing in marinara sauce as she proudly announced she was over her morning sickness and absolutely starving and did he think he could possibly run to the store and get her some sardines and cheese puffs?

And he would never in a million years forget the feel of her hand tightly in his earlier that day as the doctor showed them the first ultrasound image of the baby, of his baby, of _their_ baby. He'd never forget wiping the tears off of Chloe's face in the hospital hallway, much like he'd done only months before, only this time they were happy tears. And she laughed as they fell and then asked him if he was ready before pushing a button and sending the ultrasound image to every number in her address book. It was the easiest way to get the news out, she'd told him and she'd been right. Not two seconds after she had hit send both of their phones were ringing.

They kept ringing all day and the house had felt like Grand Central Station as every superhero on the planet descended upon Star City to offer their congratulations in person. Most of them Oliver had already met before thanks to his taking over Chloe's duties at the Watchtower for the past few months but some of them had been a surprise. Like when he opened the door and saw Bruce Wayne standing on his doorstep with a bouquet of flowers in one hand and actual smile on his face as he pulled Chloe into a tight hug.

He didn't stay long but the whole thing was more than surreal to Oliver considering he and Bruce had barely been friends back at Excelsior and were nothing more than fierce business rivals in 2009. Chloe had explained to Oliver that he was actually a part of the JLA. He called himself Batman and roamed around Gotham City fighting crime, occasionally lending a helping hand to the team when they needed him.

Oliver had laughed at the image of him running around dressed up like a bat of all things and asked jokingly if he had his butler help him into the suit, remembering that Bruce rarely did anything without Alfred. When Chloe clammed up and changed the subject it was all the confirmation that Oliver needed and vowed that he would never, ever let him live that down. Chloe had rolled her eyes and snorted at his childish behavior.

The last of the well wishers had grudgingly left about an hour ago when Oliver insisted that Chloe get to bed but he hadn't been able to bring himself to join her just yet. He'd had every intention of locking up the house and following her upstairs but then he'd seen the ultrasound image lying on the counter and he'd grabbed it, retreating into his study.

"Oliver?" Chloe asked sleepily, standing in the doorway rubbing at her eyes. She was wearing another one of his t-shirts and it hit her just above the knee, her small baby belly poking out the fabric just enough for him to know it was there. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing." He smiled at her but she didn't believe him, walking into the room and around the desk, her gaze softening when she saw the ultrasound in his hand. Wordlessly, she sat down on his lap and leaned her head against his chest.

"What's wrong?" she asked him in a whisper and he thought for a second of telling her that nothing was wrong then remembered that she knew him much better than he knew her and she'd see through that lie in a second.

"He's missing all of this," Oliver said suddenly, dropping the ultrasound to the desktop and placing a hand on Chloe's stomach.

"Who?" Chloe asked, genuinely confused as to who he could be talking about.

"Your Oliver. He's missing all of this. He's missing everything and it's my fault. He should be here. For you, for the baby, for all of this, but he can't because I'm here and I'm going to be here until I learn whatever the hell it is some dumb ass kid decided I needed to learn and I have no idea how long that will take or how long I'll be here and I shouldn't be here," Oliver said. "And the most horrible thing is, I _want_ to be here. I don't want to leave you or the baby or this life and what exactly does that make me?"

He'd known, in the back of his mind, he'd known that but he hadn't actually admitted it to himself until this afternoon when Zatanna had called him. She'd said her friend was a bust but assured him that she had a few more leads that she would try out and promised to keep him updated on her progress.

He'd wanted to tell her not to worry about it, wanted to say to take her time, that he wasn't in any hurry to get home. But he didn't know how to tell her that. He didn't know how to say that he was sort of falling in love with his wife and he wasn't in any hurry at all to get back to his own time where his Chloe was still a bit distrustful of him and the only thing he had to look forward to after a long day at work was an empty apartment and an even emptier bed.

"Oliver, calm down." Chloe laughed as she grabbed his face and kissed him softly. He felt himself become calm almost the instant her lips touched his and he decided that this must be Chloe's super power because it was absolutely amazing. She pulled away a bit sheepishly and he smiled at her to assure her that it was more than ok.

Oliver slept with Chloe in the Master bedroom pretty much every night now but they hadn't really talked about the kiss at Tess'. To compound the awkwardness there had been a few more since then but Oliver had always been the one to instigate them. This was the first time that Chloe had kissed him and he wanted her to know that without a doubt he was ok with that. He knew they'd have to talk about it sooner or later but right now he really didn't want to burst the bubble.

"He's not missing anything," Chloe assured him, bringing him back to the conversation they'd been having before. Oliver opened his mouth to protest but Chloe kissed him again, cutting off his retort and he found that he really couldn't bring himself to care that much. "He's not missing anything," Chloe repeated as she pulled away and rested her forehead on his. "Because you're not missing anything."

"I don't—" Oliver shook his head in confusion.

"Will you ever forget this?" she asked him, covering the hand he had on her stomach with hers, running her thumb lightly over his knuckles as she twined her fingers in his.

"Never," Oliver admitted.

"Then he never will either," Chloe said. "Just because he's not here now, doesn't mean he wasn't here then." It took Oliver a minute to wade through the tenses and get to the heart of what Chloe was saying. "You knew. When we first started trying to have a baby and that test kept coming up negative, you just kept telling me to hang in there, that it would happen when the time was right."

"When I would cry myself to sleep at night you'd just hold me and promise me, 'One_ day,' _you'd whisper, '_Just a little while longer,' _you'd say, _'It's just not time yet.'_ I thought it was just your way of coping but you knew the whole time because you'd already been there, already seen it. I thought you were just stronger than me, I thought you just had more faith but you didn't need faith because you'd seen it, you'd lived it."

"Lived what?" Oliver frowned.

"This," Chloe said. "You are living through this now so when he comes back he'll remember it all." Oliver nodded, thinking about what Tess had said to him before about being so sure that she could change because he'd already seen her change. "He's not missing anything because you're not missing anything." She stood up, sliding out of his lap but keeping her fingers firmly linked in his. "Come to bed," she whispered and he nodded, allowing her to pull him out of the chair and up the stairs.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver walked over to the coffee pot to refresh his cup, his head buried in a file. He lifted his eyes for a second to take a sip but paused before the cup even reached his lips. Chloe was sitting at the kitchen table in the chair across from his, just like she did every morning. Her caffeine free herbal tea was sitting in the cup next to her, untouched and cold, just like it was every morning. She was holding a copy of the Gazette in her hands, just like every morning, only this morning she wasn't reading it.

The paper had fallen to the side, all but forgotten as Chloe's gaze seemed to be completely on him. Her eyes were slightly unfocused as her tongue darted out and she pulled her bottom lip into her mouth, biting it lightly. She looked hungry, but not for food. The morning sickness being long gone had brought Chloe's appetite back with a vengeance but she'd had a full breakfast, eggs, bacon and two croissants, with a side of waffles and a huge bowl of fruit, less than an hour ago.

For a second Oliver thought she was looking at the coffee because she was going on six months now, coffee free, cold turkey. She refused to drink decaf because, as she reminded him constantly, she really didn't see the point of coffee without caffeine. Oliver moved the cup back and

forth a bit and when her eyes didn't follow he realized she was staring at him; she was hungry for him.

_Well, this is interesting_, he thought, smirking as he took a sip of coffee and walked back to the table. He'd been sleeping with her in the master bedroom every night since that first night a few months ago, but that was it. He wasn't going to push her into anything she didn't want or wasn't ready for. He'd been letting her take the lead, make the first move, like when she kissed him. Which had happened quite a bit more since that first time but they hadn't gone any further. Only Oliver was tired of waiting for her.

Chloe's eyes followed him across the room as he sat back in his chair and he chuckled. It seemed to grab her attention and she looked up at him, her eyes focusing on his immediately. A deep blush rose up out of the neck of her shirt all the way to her hair line and she ducked her head, burying her face back in the paper.

"I think we should go out tonight," Oliver said, going back to his file.

"Well, I'm not cooking so if you want to eat, it's either that or order in," Chloe said, snorting and flipped the page.

"No, Chloe," Oliver said more firmly. "I think _we_ should go _out_. Tonight," he repeated and something in his voice made her drop the paper and look at him.

"Oh," Chloe said, reaching for another croissant from the tray and picking at it a bit. "You mean like a date?" she whispered.

"Yeah, I mean like a date." Oliver smiled softly at her.

Chloe popped a small piece of bread in her mouth and chewed slowly. "Ok."

"Great." Oliver looked down at his file. "Then it's a date."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver had hurried home from work to shower and change for his date. Chloe had said she could just meet him somewhere in the city but he didn't want to drive home separately at the end of the night. He also didn't want to be in a wrinkled suit straight from the office. He wanted to do this right.

He'd showered and changed in about thirty minutes then sat on the couch and flipped through the channels absently for almost an hour while he waited for Chloe to get ready. He'd heard the water running in the shower when he'd gotten home and the sound of a hair dryer when he passed the room after his shower but since then it had been pretty quiet. He checked his watch and turned off the TV, tossing the remote control to the couch.

"Chloe, seriously, we have reservations at eight," Oliver called up the stairs. When he didn't hear anything he got up and took the stairs two at a time. "Chloe?"

He walked into the master bedroom and didn't see her anywhere but her vanity was an absolute mess, make-up and hair products all over the place. The bathroom wasn't any better and it was also Chloe free. He heard an annoyed grunt come from the closet and he was ready to remind her that they needed to leave in five minutes if they wanted to make their reservation but the words died in his throat the second he opened the door.

He smiled slowly, leaning up against the doorway to fully take in the scene in front of him. Chloe was standing in the middle of the closet, hands on her hips, wearing nothing but a bra and a pair of panties. The closet racks were practically bare; every article of clothing Chloe owned was lying on the floor at her feet as she stared dejectedly at the remaining dresses still left on the hangers. Her hair was falling in soft, precise curls almost half way down her back and even in profile Oliver could tell that her make-up was meticulously done.

"What's going on?" Oliver asked, announcing his presence.

"I don't have anything to wear," Chloe said.

Oliver looked back down to where she was almost ankle deep in clothes and quirked an eyebrow. "I'm sure that's not true."

Chloe turned slightly to smile at him before rolling her eyes. "Nothing fits anymore." She looked down at her noticeably extended stomach and Oliver followed her gaze down to her bare baby belly.

He pushed himself off the door frame and stepped into the room, picking up a little black dress that he'd seen her wear before from the ground and holding it out to her. "Wear this."

"It doesn't fit," Chloe protested but stepped into the dress anyway, turning away from him so he could zip her up. When she turned back around she held out her hands. "See," she said.

Oliver took a step back and looked her up and down, shrugging in confusion. "I think it looks great."

"It's too tight." Chloe turned to the side, pointing out how the dress clung to her every curve. "Everyone can see…everything." Oliver wasn't stupid, he knew by _everything_ she meant her baby bump. They'd done a really good job of keeping the whole pregnancy thing out of the public eye. There had been speculation, nothing concrete, but if she wore that dress, by morning there wouldn't be anyone who could dispute the truth.

"I want everyone to see," Oliver said, sliding his hands across her belly. "It's like…I don't know, like I'm showing you off."

Chloe looked up at him from under her lashes. "Showing me off?" she asked him.

"Yep. I want to let everyone know that I made this," he said.

Chloe put her hands on her hips and smirked. "You had a bit of help you know."

"You're right." Oliver dropped a kiss to her forehead. "I couldn't have done it without you."

Chloe pushed him away playfully. "Get out of here; I still have to find shoes."

"You're wearing the dress, right?" Oliver asked as he walked to the door. Wearing the dress meant everyone would know. It would probably mean calling his PR guys and issuing an official statement and things might get crazy for a while but Oliver didn't care. He wanted people to know that his wife was carrying his child, because, honestly, some days he could hardly believe it himself and if it was out there, if everyone else knew, then it would be like it was real.

Chloe laughed and nodded. "I'm wearing the dress," she assured him.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver set the bag on the counter and pulled the leftovers out. Dinner had been nice. He'd thought that maybe it would be awkward but it was Chloe and Oliver had come to the realization that, for some reason, nothing was ever awkward with Chloe. There had been a few paparazzi when they got to the restaurant, unavoidable really when you were the second richest man on the planet who also happened to moonlight as a crime fighting hero.

Oliver remembered the second after Chloe got out of the car when all the camera flashes stopped as they all got their first official look at the baby bump and then the intense barrage of flashes that lasted for another minute or so. Chloe took it all in stride, smiling diligently, her hand secure in the crook of Oliver's arm. And when one of the cameramen had asked, for the record, if she really was pregnant, Chloe had simply looked down at her belly then back up at him and rolled her eyes and said, _"No, I'm smuggling my own ham into the restaurant."_

They'd all laughed and Chloe had answered a few questions and then everyone offered her congratulations and thanked her for the pictures. Oliver had been amazed at the way she'd handled everything and she'd just shrugged and said she was used to it, that it was the price she paid to be with him and she paid it gladly.

He turned to put the leftovers in the fridge but Chloe stopped him and reached her hands out. "Wait, wait, wait," she said, grabbing the smaller container and pulling the lid off eagerly. Oliver looked over his shoulder as he put the others away and was shocked when he saw a large piece of tiramisu.

"Seriously?" Oliver closed the fridge and turned around. "You ate a piece of chocolate cake the size of my head and half of my crème Brule at the restaurant. You ordered something to go?"

"It's tiramisu," Chloe said, sliding her finger through the cream and licking it off.

"How can you possibly still be hungry?" Oliver asked her in amazement as she loaded her finger up with more cream.

Chloe didn't answer, just looked down at her belly as she licked her finger. "Oh my god, this is good."

"At least use a spoon." Oliver pulled out the drawer next to him and grabbed a spoon, holding it out to Chloe who took it reluctantly.

"Fine, but it tastes better this way," she said. Oliver watched as she scooped up some more of the cream on her finger then held it out to him. He held her gaze as he leaned down, his tongue darting out quickly to taste the cream before his lips closed around her finger, sucking it all off.

"It is pretty good," Oliver conceded.

"Yeah." Chloe licked her lips.

"Can I have another bite?" Oliver raised an eyebrow.

Chloe cut her eyes from Oliver to the tiramisu and then back again and shook her head. "Nope, sorry, this is all mine."

"Come on, just one more bite?" Oliver teased, reaching for the spoon and Chloe pulled it away from him.

"Do not even attempt to steal food from a pregnant lady," Chloe joked, digging the spoon into the desert and taking a large bite.

"One bite," Oliver said, reaching for the spoon again and this time Chloe held it high above her head away from him and shook her head. "Come on." Oliver stepped forward, trapping her between him and the counter. "Just a little taste?" he whispered, his voice low and husky and Chloe swallowed. Her eyes were wide, like a deer caught in the headlights, but her pupils were dilated and her breath was coming fast. Really the only logical thing Oliver could do was lean down and kiss her.

The tiramisu sat abandoned on the kitchen counter while the two of them made their way through the living room. Chloe's hip bumped into the table by the couch sending a Tiffany lamp crashing to the ground but they didn't stop. "Leave it," Oliver whispered against Chloe's lips and she nodded.

"Was planning to," she told him, backing him up to the stairs as she pulled his jacket off, dropping it onto the floor. His tie was flung off around the second floor landing and his shirt thrown haphazardly behind Chloe's head in the middle of the hallway.

"Why am I the only one undressing?" Oliver asked when they finally made it to the master bedroom and Chloe pulled away from him with a smirk, shoving him gently to sit on the edge of the bed.

She grabbed the bottom of the dress and peeled it off of her in one smooth motion and Oliver found himself staring at Chloe once again in nothing but her bra and panties, the growing baby bump right in front of him. He reached out and slid his hands over her stomach to settle on her hips. Her hand dropped to the top of his head, her fingers sliding through his hair and he tugged her forward, dropping a soft kiss right above her belly button.

"Ollie," Chloe said softly, pushing him further back on the bed and climbing up the mattress, settling a leg on either side of him.

"This is going to change things," Oliver said as he rubbed his hands up and down her bare thighs.

"No, it won't." Chloe shook her head. "You are my husband, whether you're from 2009 or 2019 and I love you and I miss you and I want this. I want _you._"

That was all Oliver needed to hear. He reached up and kissed her then, soft and deep and poured everything that he'd found himself feeling over the past few months into it, hoping that she would know that he wanted this too, that he wanted her.

It didn't take long to get rid of the remaining clothes and Oliver gently moved Chloe further up the bed. He took his time this time, making sure to memorize every inch of her body. The way her skin dipped slightly at the curve of her butt, the expanse of her neck as she threw her head back, the soft little moans that escaped when he brushed his lips over the shell of her ear, the way she begged him to hurry and the way he completely ignored her.

And when he finally slid inside of her he didn't have to consciously commit that to memory because he was sure that for the rest of his life he would never forget that. He would never forget the way she felt, tight and hot, surrounding him. He would never forget the way her hips shifted, pulling him in deeper. He would never forget the way she moved or the way she dug her fingers into his hips or the way she gasped out his name when she finally came, pulling him over the edge right along with her.

He lay there next to her, his fingers still tangled in her hair as he tried to get his breathing under control and wondered if his brain would ever be able to form complete sentences again, when she turned to him with a smile and sat up. "I'm starving," she panted, swinging her legs easily over the side of the bed and walking to the door.

Oliver watched her go, astonished. He couldn't even feel his legs at the moment much less move them so he stayed right where he was and basked in the afterglow. Somehow he'd ended up on Chloe's side of the bed and when he turned his head to check the clock on the nightstand something caught his eye. The picture of him and Chloe that had always been there had been replaced with a new one.

It must have been taken a few weeks before when Lois and Tess came to visit to help Chloe get the nursery finished because that's where they were standing. He and Clark and Emil and Bart had spent the entire weekend painting the walls and putting together the furniture and hanging pictures until everything was perfect. His clothes were spattered with pale yellow paint and there was a bandage around his hand where Bart had slipped and sliced through his palm with the screwdriver when they were trying to get the crib put together.

They were in the middle of the room and Chloe was looking up at him, her eyes wet with unshed, happy tears and he was looking down at her, both of his hands resting lightly on her stomach. Lois or Tess must have snapped the picture with their phones because he didn't even remember it being taken.

He smiled because, unlike the picture that had previously occupied the frame, this was a memory that Oliver had been a part of, one that he'd always remember and it wasn't until that moment that he truly understood what Chloe had meant about future Oliver not missing anything because he'd been here for it all.

"Tiramisu!" Chloe said from the doorway and his attention was drawn from the picture to her. She was standing there in nothing more than his dress shirt that she'd obviously picked up in the hallway. The third button was the only one closed giving Oliver a great view of Chloe's

chest and allowing her baby bump to peek through the fabric.

"Did you save me any?" Oliver peered at the plate as Chloe slid back under the covers.

"A little." She smiled, passing him the spoon in her hand so he could take a bite but took it right back from him when he was done and shoved a more than heaping spoonful into her mouth.

"Chew, please." Oliver laughed and Chloe glared, flipping him off while holding the spoon in her hand and he just smiled and stared at her.

"What?" Chloe asked, swallowing and wiping her mouth with the back of her hands. "I'm _hungry_. Pregnant, remember?" Chloe motioned down to the belly that was poking out of his shirt.

"I remember." Oliver smiled and rolled his eyes at her, grabbing the spoon before she could stop him. She scowled as he loaded it up with a particularly large bite but it softened to a smile when he brought the spoon to her mouth.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver barely had the car in park before he pulled the keys out of the ignition. He grabbed the bags from the passenger's seat and jogged toward the house. When he got to the kitchen he pulled a large bowl out of the cabinet and set the bags on the counter, emptying them one by one and dumping the contents in the bowl, building the sundae to Chloe's exact specifications.

Satisfied with the end product, Oliver double checked that he had everything as requested before grabbing a spoon. He was halfway to the living room before he stopped and turned back to the kitchen, picking up the hot sauce off the counter.

Chloe had not specifically requested hot sauce on her sundae but for the past few weeks she'd been putting it on everything, from her breakfast to her dessert so he made sure to have it handy just in case. He carried the bowl carefully into the living room, announcing his presence as he went.

"So I had to go to four different ice cream places before I found the sorbet. Apparently Passion Fruit is not in season and they looked at me like I was crazy when I asked them to put caramel on top. I made sure to get the bacon from that diner on State Street that you like so much because I know they make it extra crispy and the cotton candy was tricky but I remembered there was this little amusement park down Highway 75 that was open year round and voila. One Passion Fruit sundae with caramel and bacon sprinkles, with cotton candy on…top." Oliver's face fell as he took in the sight before him.

Chloe was sitting on the couch, a spoon halfway to her mouth piled high with what looked like Passion Fruit sorbet with caramel and bacon sprinkles, with cotton candy on top. She had a guilty expression on her face and sitting next to her was Bart with a far too pleased expression on his.

"Seriously?" Oliver asked, deflating slightly as Chloe ate the bite on the spoon.

"He got here first," Chloe said around a mouth full of sorbet and bacon bits. The guilt was quickly replaced with ecstasy as she took another bite of the sundae. "Sorry," she said, sounding anything but.

This had been happening a lot lately. Almost as soon as Chloe had gotten her appetite back the cravings started. At first they were pretty mild and easily handled but lately they'd gotten a bit more involved. Chloe would call Oliver with a craving and he'd rush home from either work or the Watchtower after searching all over town for said craving only to find Chloe already eating it, a smug Bart at her side.

"Oh, but hot sauce!" Chloe said excitedly, seeing the bottle in his hand and wagged her fingers in the universal signal for "_gimmie_". Before Oliver could take two steps he felt a gust of wind and then his hand was inexplicably lighter. He looked over to Chloe and found Bart back at her side, holding out the bottle of hot sauce that she greedily accepted.

Bart turned and saw the look on Oliver's face and smirked. "You snooze, you lose." He shrugged and Oliver glared.

"Dude." Oliver jerked his head back over his shoulder to the kitchen then turned and walked away, assuming Bart would follow him. "You need to stop," Oliver said, carefully packing the sundae up and putting it in the freezer in case Chloe wanted it later.

"Stop what?" Bart asked innocently, perfectly aware of what he was doing.

"Seriously, you're like…" Oliver struggled to find the appropriate term for this situation. The first word that came to mind was cock-blocking but that wasn't entirely accurate, it was more like Bart was…craving-blocking him.

"It's nothing personal, I'm faster than you." Bart shrugged.

"Not with two broken legs you're not," Oliver practically growled. "She's _my_ wife, dude, so back off."

"Hey." Bart threw his hands up in the air and stepped back. "Chill, ok? I was just trying to help."

"I know." Oliver sighed against the counter. "Look, it's just, I know in the end that we're gonna have a baby, but Chloe's the one that's pregnant. She's the one who spent three whole months curled around a toilet and she has to deal with a sore back and swollen feet and the constant need to pee and the fact that for the past three months the little dude's been waking her up at three in the morning going to town on her rib cage like he's John Bonham or something and in less than a month she's going to have to push all six pounds and nine ounces out of her and it's gonna hurt like hell and there's absolutely nothing I can do about that.

"But what I can do is hold her hair when she gets sick and give her a massage when she comes home from work and sit up and just talk to her belly at 3 in the morning until he finally calms down and goes back to sleep. And when she has a crazy craving, _I_ can be the one who goes and gets it for her. And I know it's just a little thing but it's the only thing I can do."

"You're right," Bart said. "I totally get that. It's just when she wants something so bad and I bring it to her she gives me this smile, you know, like I just went out and got her the moon and not, you know, a deep fried Twinkie."

"I know that smile well." Oliver clapped Bart on the back and laughed. "I have spent many a night driving around town looking for the craziest things in the hopes of getting one of those smiles." He looked over at the younger man and sighed. "Tell you what. How about from now on I deal with all cravings that can be obtained locally and you deal with anything out of state or international?"

Bart smiled. Chloe had been known to request baguettes from that little bakery outside their apartment in Paris or a steak from her favorite restaurant in Manhattan. "I can handle that."

Oliver heard the crying from the kitchen, grabbed the bottle from the warmer and took the stairs two at a time. He'd hoped to have the bottle ready before Ellie woke up but no such luck. When he got to the nursery he picked her up out of the bassinet and carried her over to the rocking chair. "Shh," Oliver said softly. "We don't want to wake your mom now, do we? She's exhausted and needs her sleep."

The second Oliver touched the bottle to Ellie's lips the crying stopped and she latched on, sucking down the formula greedily. "That's my girl," Oliver whispered, dropping a kiss to the top of her head and trying his hardest not to pass out right then and there.

Chloe had woken him at four in the morning three days ago. They'd called Emil who, despite being almost a thousand miles away, had acted as Chloe's OBGYN throughout the pregnancy. She was still worried about the effect the meteor deposit around her heart would have on their daughter and didn't trust anyone but him.

He said he'd get Clark to bring him to Star City first thing in the morning and not to panic, that they didn't even need to go to the hospital until the contractions were about 30 seconds long and five minutes apart and that could take hours. Neither of them had been able to go back to sleep after that and, true to Emil's word, they weren't even ready to head to the hospital until around nine.

Chloe was in labor for a little over twelve hours before Emil finally told her she could push and Oliver barely had time to prepare before Emil was handing him a small screaming, squirming bundle of joy. Eleanor Laura Queen, named after Chloe's grandmother and his mom. He'd gotten to hold her for all of two seconds before she was whisked away by the nurse to be cleaned and checked over. Chloe and Tess and Lois were sobbing and Oliver was just standing there in wonder when Hal clapped him on the back and told him that he'd done good.

Neither of them had gotten much sleep at the hospital between visitors and uncomfortable cots and nurses coming in every two hours to check on Chloe and even after they'd gotten home earlier that day it was just one well wisher after the next. If the doorbell wasn't ringing the phone was and when Oliver'd finally kicked everyone out and dragged Chloe up to bed he'd realized that Ellie would probably be ready to eat relatively soon. So instead of climbing in the bed after her he'd dragged himself down to the kitchen and started fixing a bottle.

"Why didn't you wake me?" Chloe asked sleepily from the doorway a minute later and Oliver looked up at her.

"Cause you need your rest. I got her, go back to bed," Oliver assured her and Chloe dropped a kiss on Ellie's forehead and then Oliver's before walking back out of the room, mumbling what was probably something along the lines of, '_I love you' _or '_You're the greatest'_ or _'Thank you.'_

Oliver just sat there, staring down in wonder at his daughter. _His_ daughter. He'd made her, a whole tiny, fully formed human person. He couldn't help but think of how she had her whole life ahead of her and how it was his job to make sure that life was filled with love and happiness, to make sure she was safe, to mold her and guide her. And he knew from that moment on that he would spend the rest of his life trying to do just that.

When she finished her bottle and he'd managed to coax a healthy burp out of her, he laid her back in the crib and shuffled into the bedroom and collapsed onto the bed. "She go down ok?" Chloe mumbled, rolling over to lay her head on his chest.

"Out like a light," Oliver assured her, kissing the top of Chloe's head softly and she sighed in content as he closed his eyes. Only, as tired as he was, sleep wouldn't come.

"I can hear you thinking you know." Chloe opened her eyes and lifted her head up.

"Sorry." Oliver groaned and rubbed his eyes. "I just don't understand."

"Don't understand what?" Chloe sat up a bit and stared down at him.

"How I got here."

"Victoria—"

"No, I know how I got here physically. I just meant _here _here, married to you with the most beautiful kid in the world in the next room."

"Ollie." Chloe smiled down at him.

"I'm serious, Chlo, I know what kind of guy I was back then. How the hell did he manage to get you? I mean, was our first date just amazing or something?" Chloe opened her mouth then closed it quickly and Oliver rolled his eyes. "What? Are you worried about telling me too much because I think we're way past that at this point, don't you?"

"It's not that. It's just…I don't really know what would technically constitute as our first date," Chloe said, sitting up all the way. Oliver looked at her, confused and Chloe took a deep breath. "We didn't exactly have that kind of relationship in the beginning."

"What kind of relationship did we have exactly?" Oliver turned to her.

"It was a very casual sort of friends with benefits thing," Chloe told him and Oliver leaned back against the headboard.

"Shit, seriously?" Oliver shook his head. "I mean, I know I was an ass back then but I didn't think I was that much of an ass. God, was I that scared of commitment?"

"Give yourself _some_ credit." Chloe nudged his shoulder. "The no-strings-attached thing was sort of my idea."

"Your idea? Really?" Oliver asked skeptically but Chloe nodded. "Well, how did that happen?"

Chloe leaned back, pulling up the memory. "The team had been pretty split after the whole Doomsday debacle. We'd all gone our separate ways and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't seem to get you back together. Then there was that thing with Carter and Courtney and the JSA." Chloe looked at him questioningly and Oliver nodded to tell her he knew what she was talking about.

Courtney and Mia had come to stay with them the week before. They'd heard about Chloe and the baby and wanted to be there for her, plus the last semester at school had kicked both their asses pretty hard so they certainly weren't opposed to spending their days lounging out on the private beach the house happened to be situated on. Being in the house with three girls, one of whom was severely hormonal, was a challenge, but it also been pretty eye opening for Oliver.

At night the girls would sit around the table, long after dinner had been cleared and just reminisce. He'd learned so much from just sitting back and listening to them tell stories. The things Mia had gone through just to get to where she was made Oliver so proud to have had even the slightest influence in her life and he'd actually teared up when she told him that the best thing she'd ever done in her life was to get into his car.

Courtney's story was pretty amazing too and through her he'd learned everything about Carter and the JSA and what a huge role they'd played in Courtney's life. She'd talked about how much Carter loved messing with Oliver and pushing his buttons and that she'd never seen him have so much fun as when he was giving Oliver a hard time. She'd also told him that, despite what Carter may have said to Oliver's face, when he wasn't around and it was just Carter and Courtney, he couldn't stop talking about how amazed he was with Oliver and how he was going to be truly great one day.

It had been strange because Oliver hadn't even met the guy yet and from what he could gather based on all the stories that were told about him, the two of them did nothing but argue and bicker. But Courtney's words hit him hard and he couldn't help but want to live up to the expectations of this man whom he'd never met. It was a lot of pressure. He'd had to excuse himself to get some fresh air at that point and Courtney had followed him outside.

They walked down the pier to the beach in silence and sat on the bottom step, digging their toes into the cool sand as they watched the waves crash onto the shore.

"_You're going to be a great dad, you know," Courtney said, nudging his shoulder with hers and he turned to her, astonished because there was no way she could have known that in that moment that's what he was worried about the most. Then he remembered that though he didn't know Courtney, she knew him. Very well apparently. _

"_How do you know?" Oliver asked, not bothering to deny the fears. _

"_When Carter died, I didn't know what to do. I had nowhere to go and with the rest of the JSA gone, I felt like I didn't have anyone left. But you and Chloe, you just sort of swooped in and saved me. You took me in and you made me go back to school and you took care of me and you worried about me and you…saved me. I was no one, I was just this girl who had delusions of being a superhero, playing with her daddy's toys but you guys believed in me and cared for me and treated me like family." _

"_You are family," Oliver said without thinking, slinging his arm over her shoulder and she smiled. _

"_I know that now." Courtney rolled her eyes. "And so is Mia and Bart and AC and Victor and Lucas and…don't you get it? I know you're going to be a good dad because you're already a good dad." _

_Oliver looked down at her and smiled, dropping a kiss to her forehead and pulling her a bit closer. "And you're a good kid." _

_Courtney looked up at him and rolled her eyes, elbowing him in the ribs. "I'm not a kid anymore, Oliver." _

"_You'll always be a kid to me." He shrugged and she kicked a bit of sand up at him. He raised his eyebrows in a challenge and she took off down the beach laughing, him hot on her tail. It didn't take him long to catch up to her and he grabbed her around the waist, swinging her into the surf, laughing the whole time. _

_An hour later they'd trudged up to the back porch, both of them soaking wet and covered in sand. Chloe had merely raised an eyebrow and told them that they weren't stepping foot into the house until they'd rinsed themselves off. By her unsurprised reaction Oliver had come to understand that sort of thing was probably pretty common. _

"You came to the Watchtower that night when it was all over. When I look back now I think you'd come with the intention of asking me out, like a date, but John was there so the three of us went to dinner instead. Bart called to check in on the way and sort of invited himself when he found out what we were doing. He showed up with AC and Vic in tow and when we got to the restaurant, Clark and Lois were already there waiting for a table so they joined us too." Chloe smiled fondly. "It was the first unofficial team dinner."

Oliver had wondered how those had gotten started. He'd been to a couple since they'd come out to Star City. It was always impromptu, never planned. Everyone just showed up and they ate and laughed and told stories and didn't worry about work or crime or heroes and villains for one night.

"You walked me home and you asked me out and I was so shocked that I turned you down flat. That night had been the first time I'd been out of the Watchtower, basically since Jimmy died, and it reminded me there was so much more out in the world than death and I really needed that, but I knew I wasn't ready for anything more than that at the moment. I apologized and explained that to you later after I'd had some time to think about it but you just smiled and shrugged and told me you'd just wait until I _was_ ready."

"Smooth." Oliver smiled and Chloe rolled her eyes.

"Oh yeah, you were a regular Casanova," she said with a chuckle. "Going on and on about how we'd get married and move to Star City and talking about meeting my dad."

"What's so wrong with that?" Oliver asked, confused because they'd done all those things, hadn't they? He'd even met Chloe's dad. Gabe had come to stay with them the second he'd heard about the baby. Oliver had freaked at first because he wasn't sure if he'd ever actually met someone's parents. Tess had been his longest relationship before Chloe and her parents were dead. Then there'd been Lois and he'd done everything in his power to never have to come face to face with the General. But then Gabe had shown up and enveloped Oliver in a hug and called him son and it hadn't been too bad. They'd watched football together and Gabe had helped him replace the replace the faulting starter relay in his bike.

"What's wrong with that is we hadn't even been on a date at that point," Chloe said. "You were just coming on too strong and I wasn't ready for that."

"So, how did I finally convince you?" Oliver asked.

"You told me that we'd make beautiful babies together," Chloe said, trying to hide her smirk.

"No." Oliver shook his head laughing. "And that worked?"

"It got my attention," Chloe admitted. "And then you said a whole bunch of other stuff that actually convinced me."

"What stuff exactly?" Oliver asked.

"Well, you said…" she trailed off, thinking back to that night and shaking her head. "You said a lot of stuff that didn't make any sense at the time but makes so much sense now."

"You're not gonna tell me, are you?" Oliver asked.

"And make it too easy for you?" Chloe smirked up at him. "You've got to do some of the work yourself, you know. I made it very clear from the beginning though that it was going to be casual, fun, that there were to be no more talk of marriage or babies or meeting the parents. You can see how well that turned out."

"Yeah. We started out no-strings-attached, on _your_ insistence, and yet we ended up married." Oliver smirked. "So, no matter how hard you tried, you just couldn't stop yourself from falling in love with me."

"You did make it rather difficult." Chloe sat up and straddled his lap, linking her arms behind his neck and dropped a kiss on his lips. "And it didn't hurt that you are just so very pretty." She punctuated the last three words with a kiss to his lips.

Oliver grabbed her hips and flipped her onto her back, hovering over her. Chloe laughed in surprise and Oliver stared down at her. "Were we happy?" Oliver asked her seriously and Chloe's laughter died down as she brought a hand up to his cheek.

"Yes," she said with conviction.

"Really?" Oliver asked and the concern in his voice was so palpable that Chloe sat up on her elbows and looked at him.

"It wasn't perfect, nothing ever is, but I can say without a doubt we were happy. We _are_ happy." Chloe kissed him again and he smiled, pulling her tightly against his side and closed his eyes. He felt his breathing even out and was just on that verge of deep sleep when he felt the bed shift beside him.

"Oliver," Chloe called out to him and he opened his eyes to see her sitting up in the bed, staring down at him.

"What?" He frowned.

"There's something I have to tell you."

"No, there isn't," he said, blindly grabbing out for her to push her back down onto the mattress but she batted his hands away.

"No, there really, really is," Chloe said seriously. "Back in 2009—"

"Seriously?" Oliver groaned up at her then looked over at the bedside clock. It was a quarter after three in the morning. "This can't wait until the morning?"

"No," Chloe said honestly so he sighed.

"Ok." Oliver sat up and gave her his full attention. "Back in 2009," he prompted her.

"Something happened." Chloe swallowed and started at the beginning. "We call it the lost year. You'd been captured by a group called the Suicide Squad and to get you back I had to make a trade. You for me."

"You didn't." Oliver groaned and Chloe nodded.

"You don't understand, there was so much more going on and everyone else needed you and it was the only way," Chloe told him. "So I made the deal. The thing is, after they took me, I faked my death. Partly to get away from them, but partly because I knew that you would fight to get me back and there was something that I had to do, something that I couldn't do if I was there with you."

"What?" Oliver shook his head, not able to understand what was so important that she'd had to go to all that trouble.

"I, I can't tell you," Chloe said sadly. "Spoilers." Oliver sighed, a bit frustrated.

"If you can't tell me what happened then why tell me this at all?"

"Because I need you to know…when you go back there, I need you to know that I didn't _want_ to do it," Chloe said. "It killed me every second of every day that I was away from you. The worst part was knowing how much it hurt you and the last thing I ever wanted was to hurt you." She was practically crying now. "I'm so sorry."

"Hey." Oliver grabbed her and held her close. "Shh, don't worry about it; it's all in the past."

"It's not though." Chloe pulled away to look up at him. "It may be in _my_ past, but it's in _your_ future. And the thought of you having to go through that kills me."

"You come back to me, don't you?" Oliver asked her and Chloe nodded.

"After Carter's funeral, when—" she cut herself off sheepishly and Oliver smiled.

"Let me guess? Spoilers?" Chloe nodded.

"Look, Chloe, there's nothing that I can't handle as long as you come back to me and I know you'll always come back to me." Oliver kissed her softly. "Just like I'll always come back to you."

"I know," Chloe assured him, knowing that he was talking about his future self, stranded somewhere in time.

"You feel better now?" Oliver asked her and she nodded.

"When I came back. I knew you were hurt and I knew you were angry but you wouldn't let me apologize, you wouldn't let me explain. You said I didn't need to; that you didn't need to hear it, the only thing that mattered was that I was back. And you might not have needed to hear it but I didn't realize until just now how much I needed to say it."

"Maybe it wasn't that I didn't need to hear it then, maybe it was just that I'd already heard it now," he said.

"I am sorry," Chloe whispered as he laid back down, pulling her with him.

"I know," he told her.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver stirred in his sleep when he heard what sounded like crying. "I got it, Chloe," he mumbled and tried to flip over but he couldn't. His entire body felt like one giant bruise. He groaned in pain and tried to take stock. His head was pounding, and when he brought his hand up to his face he felt a fresh, open cut over his left eye. He had what felt like at least three broken ribs and his left knee was swollen and throbbing.

He felt like…well, like he'd just gotten hit by an eighteen wheeler. His eyes flew open and he shot up in bed, grabbing his ribs in pain as he looked around. He was back in his bed in the Clock Tower, his _old _bed in the Clock Tower.

"No, no, no." Oliver pulled himself out of bed and looked around, grabbing his phone off the bedside and looking at the date. He was back in 2009, back in his old life with no Chloe and no Ellie. "I wasn't ready," he breathed out, his heart already aching for the daughter he'd had for less than 24 hours.

Oliver fell back on the bed, trying to get his breathing under control as he figured out what to do next. The numbers on his alarm clock caught his eye. It was almost four in the morning. There wasn't anything he could do at four in the morning. He wasn't sure if there was anything he could do at all. Then he remembered something Zatanna had told him.

"_Ten years ago you showed up at my door at four in the morning talking about time travel and insisting I send you back into the future."_

Oliver grabbed a pair of pants off the dresser and changed out of the blood stained white suit as quickly as he could before heading for the door. She'd told him that she couldn't mess around with time but at the moment she was his only lead and if there was the slightest chance she could help him then he'd have to take it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Note: **The purpose of the story from here on out is to show how Oliver's knowledge of the future influenced his life and choices in the shows **cannon **of Seasons 9 and 10 - explaining how his relationship with Chloe evolved from his point of view - so you're going to see, in this chapter at least, that it follows the the episodes pretty religiously - and you will notice that huge chunks of dialogue are taken, word for word from the episodes. I do not claim to have written the dialogue, I am merely borrowing it to show how Oliver's future knowledge fits in with the shows cannon

* * *

Zatanna groaned and forced herself to her feet. It was obvious whoever it was that had the bad manners to pound the living hell out of her door at four in the morning wasn't going anywhere. "I'm coming!" she screamed into her darkened apartment as she stumbled her way out of the bedroom.

She tore the door open violently hoping to convey, at the very least, a small amount of the annoyance she felt to the person sanding on her front stoop. "Oliver?" The angry admonishments died in her throat when she saw the condition her friend was in. His face was a mess of shallow cuts and scrapes. His eyes were red rimmed, wide and frantic and his whole body was shaking with a nervous energy that was threatening to explode out of him at any moment.

"You have to send me back," Oliver panted, shoving his way into Zatanna's apartment ranting. "I know you said it was impossible but obviously it's not impossible, because I got there somehow and now I'm back here. But I need to go back, you _have_ to send me back."

"Send you back where?" Zatanna asked confused, closing the door, trying to wake up enough to follow what he was saying. "Oliver, have you been drinking?"

"No, I don't do that anymore," Oliver said then paused at Zatanna's raised eyebrows. "I did before, obviously, and chances are I'm probably still drunk…I don't really remember – last night was so long ago. Look it doesn't matter. You said you wouldn't send me back because you didn't send me back but you never said you couldn't send me back. So I need to know, right now, can you do it?"

"Can I do what?" Zatanna asked, somehow even more confused now. "Oliver, it's four in the morning, just tell me what the hell's going on."

"Send me back to the future?" Oliver said suddenly, just blurting it out.

"_Back_ to the future?" Zatanna eyes went wide.

"You said that time wasn't something you messed around with and how changing my future can change your past and I get that, I do, but Chloe needs me and I—" Oliver swallowed hard, looking more scared and vulnerable than Zatanna had ever seen him look. "I need her, you have no idea how much I need her."

Zatanna sat down on the couch and tried to warp her head around what Oliver was saying. "When did I say all that? About time being something you didn't mess around with and changing your future?"

"I went to see you, in the future," Oliver explained sitting down and taking a few deep breaths. "You said you'd been waiting for me. You knew I'd be there because you remembered me coming here, now." Zatanna frowned. "I know it can get a bit confusing."

"A bit," Zatanna said. "Look, if there's any hope at all of me understanding this I'm going to need coffee, lots of coffee. So make yourself useful and start a pot while I put on something less comfortable." Oliver frowned and looked at her, as if just now noticing she was wearing nothing more than a thin white camisole and red boy shorts. He looked away instantly and Zatanna smiled wide. "Well well well, never thought I'd see the day Oliver Queen passed up the chance to leer at a girl in her underwear. Maybe you have changed."

"Stranger things have happened," Oliver pointed out.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"So explain this to me very slowly." Zatanna sipped the coffee Oliver handed her.

"Ten months ago I woke up in my bed, in the Clock Tower, but Chloe was there and we were married. Tess was pregnant and Lois had twins and there were all these people that I didn't know who obviously knew me…I thought it was a dream at first," Oliver explained.

"But it wasn't. You were in the future?" Zatanna asked

"Ten years from now," Oliver said. He told her as much as he could which was hard because she didn't want to know anymore than she had to. Too much forehand knowledge could be a bad thing, she reminded him.

"I can make you forget," she offered at one point. "I can make you forget everything you saw there. Knowing what you know, carrying that with you, it's not gonna be easy."

Oliver stopped and thought about it. He could see where she was coming from. Knowing what he knew would be hard sometimes. There were things that had to happen, things he couldn't stop. Like Tess' upcoming betrayal, what was going to happen to Hal, even Carter's death. He didn't even know the guy yet but he knew that from what Courtney and Chloe had told him, when the time came, it was going to be difficult for him to just sit by and let it happen. But Oliver knew that he couldn't change those things. Those things are what shaped the future that he wanted so badly to have.

Then he thought about the look on Chloe's face in the mornings. She always had this dreamy soft smile as she stood by the coffee pot waiting for her first cup of the day. He thought about Bart and the man he'd one day become. He thought about showing up at Mia's office on her first day at her new law firm to take her to lunch. How she pretended to be embarrassed but seemed to hold her head higher when he told her how proud he was of her. He thought about Tess holding Noah which made him think about Chloe holding Ellie, which made him think about Ellie.

"No," he said a bit more forcibly than he meant to, catching Zatanna off guard. "No," he repeated more softly. "Thanks but I think I'm supposed to remember this stuff." He explained about Victoria and Max and the lesson that he was supposed to learn. "Victoria said he brought me there so I could find something to make me want to live my life."

"Did you?" Zatanna asked gently, taking his story in.

"Yes," Oliver said painfully, the image of his daughter's face instantly coming to mind. "I have a daughter. Or I guess I _will_ have a daughter. Her name is Ellie. Eleanor Laura Queen. She's beautiful, barely 48-hours old. I'd just given her a bottle, laid her down in her crib, and then crawled into bed next to my wife and went to sleep. Only when I woke up, I was alone. No wife, no baby. And now I have to wait ten years to hold either of them again." He turned to Zatanna sadly. "So you can understand why I would want to go back so badly."

"Oliver," Zatanna laid a comforting hand on his arm and frowned. "I get that you miss your daughter and you miss the Chloe you had in the future, but-isn't this better?" Zatanna asked him. "To be here, now. To live those times that you missed. To get to know _this_ Chloe and fall in love with her and build a life with her, instead of just being dropped right in the middle of it?"

Oliver sighed because she was right. When he'd been back there with Chloe and seen the pictures and heard the stories, he'd been so jealous of the other Oliver because he'd got to live those times. But now he was getting the chance to be a part of those stories and to be in those pictures, to create those memories himself.

"Yeah, in a way, I guess it is." Oliver smiled softly.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

When he got home from Zatanna' s, the urgency Oliver felt, the _need_ to get back to the future was just a dull ache now. The loss of a daughter he'd only known two days pulled at him in a way he'd never thought anything could. But it also gave him strength, made him want to change, to become the type of man that Chloe could love. Which only reminded him that Chloe didn't love him, not this Chloe, not yet anyway.

He showered, trying to make himself as presentable as he could. It was a bitch trying to shave around all the cuts on his face. His ribs ached and his head was pounding and now that the adrenaline had worn off all he wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep for two days. But even more so he wanted to see Chloe. He _needed_ to see Chloe.

He was on his way out the door, trying to get his mind back into 2009, figure out where Chloe might be this time of day, when the chessboard on the side table caught his eye. The White Queen was lying in the center on its side and Oliver felt a smile tug the corner of his lips. A memory he'd almost forgotten popped into his head from more than a year ago. Long before the Watchtower, long before Davis and Jimmy's death, long before their whole world imploded in on them.

_Bart was on a routine recon mission in South America and Chloe was waiting at the Clock Tower for him to get back so she could debrief him and figure out where they went from there. _

"_Are you even paying attention?" Oliver asked Chloe as he stared at the chess board and she stared down at his phone. "I'm three moves away from taking your Queen." _

"_Bart hasn't checked in yet," Chloe said glancing at the board. "And it doesn't matter because I'm two away from taking yours." _

"_It's Bart," Oliver said, squinting at the pieces. "He's fine, he probably stopped off for a late night snack. What are you seeing that I'm not?" _

_Chloe looked down at the board and smiled secretly as Oliver touched his knight, thought better of it, hovered his hand over his one remaining bishop before grabbing his king and moving it to the left. Chloe smiled bigger and grabbed her rook moving it into position before looking up at him. "Check." _

_Oliver frowned even deeper and realized he'd been played, that Chloe tricked him into moving his king. "I've taught you well," he said leaning back in his seat to study the board, thinking his next move over more carefully. "You could call him, if you're that worried," Oliver said contemplating his knight again._

"_And officially declare myself the Mother Hen they all accuse me of being." Chloe shook her head as Oliver captured her rook. _

"_They only tease you because they love you," Oliver pointed out as she frowned at the board. Her fingers hovered over her king and Oliver wrinkled his nose. She jerked her hand away then pushed her Queen forward. Oliver smiled and captured it easily, realizing too late that's what she wanted as she deftly moved her king, beaming up at him._

"_Check," she said simply and Oliver chuckled under his breath, tipping the queen over on its side in surrender as a breeze blew through the room, followed by a not-so-steady-on-his-feet Bart. Chloe jumped up immediately as he dropped into one of Oliver's leather chairs and she saw gash in his arm, their game forgotten in favor of fussing over Bart._

_::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::_

That had been the first time she'd beat him and the last time they'd played. One of the last times he remembered seeing her smile. Another image of the chess piece came to mind suddenly; this one from the future, of it broken into pieces. And then he thought about the look on Chloe's face when he'd put it back together for her.

"_You gave it to me the morning after the Roulette thing. I was having coffee and you just set it on the table in front of me. It was your way of telling me I'd won, that you knew it was me who set you up and that there were no hard feelings. That conversation, that moment was sort of the start of everything. I always associated the white queen with that day and by extension us." _

Oliver grabbed the chess piece and slipped it in his pocket and smiled as he made his way out the door. He knew exactly where to find her.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Tess, I'll be in the office in fifteen minutes and then you can yell at me some more then, okay?" Oliver stopped at the crosswalk, smiling when he saw the sign for the Metro Coffeestop and a familiar head of blonde hair. He had a lot to make up for to Tess and knowing about her imminent betrayal didn't outweigh the fact that she was the only reason he still had a company. Even so, it didn't mean he wanted to listen to her shout obscenities at him over the phone so he hung up.

Oliver walked over to Chloe's table and set the chess piece down on the table in front of her."Nicely played." Chloe froze for a second, surprised to be called out and Oliver continued. "So I started asking myself who knew about Lex, about Toyman." Oliver walked around the table and sat down across from Chloe. ,"The things I'd given up, what I tried to do, and it all occurred to me. Dinah shattered the glass in the warehouse, Bart rescued me from the car, Victor faked the computers and Watchtower kept an eye on the whole thing. Right?"

Chloe swallowed. "You were living like you had a death wish, Oliver. You had to face your demons if you were ever gonna make it out alive, and I had to push you over the ledge in order to pull you back."

He winced, surprised to find that despite being gone for a little over nine months, the memory of that night still felt as if it had just been a few hours before. That probably had something to do with the broken ribs. "Did you have to push with a 3-ton truck?

"I didn't think a tricycle would be a strong enough point. You're a fighter, Oliver." He couldn't help but smile slightly, the look on Chloe's face, so familiar to him. "You fought for yourself and for a second chance."

He coughed. "Chloe, I'm not the only one you put at risk," he pointed out, because regardless of what she'd done and why she'd don't it, it was still a very risky play.

"If you're worried about our little club and Lex, don't be. I played my cards close to my chest," Chloe assured him.

"And Lois was what? She was, uh, just another ace up your sleeve?" Oliver saw Chloe wince at the mention of her cousin.

"No. I never meant for her to get involved. She was chasing after you when she accidentally ended up storming the field. That's when Victoria went off script," Chloe said sadly and Oliver resisted the urge to say, _"You have no idea how much off script." _But he bit his tongue.

"I could have killed her," he whispered instead, those old fears crashing back down on him. The doubt and shame about the person he'd been, much closer to the surface now in this place when everything was still so fresh than it had been in the future.

"No offense to your manhood, but I made sure that your gun was loaded with blanks just in case. I trust you, Oliver, just... not that much." Chloe sipped her coffee casually.

He smiled to cover the pain. The thought of Chloe not trusting him was twisting his gut into a knot. He knew, logically that she wasn't going to just see him and fall in love instantly in love with him, but the distrust he saw plain as day in her eyes was almost too much to take. "Did Clark know about this?" he asked, needing to change the subject.

Chloe chuckled. "You can't be serious. Clark would never in a million years risk what needed to be done."

Oliver shrugged. "Well, he's led a different life than we have, hasn't he? I can't expect him to know me like you do... the places that I had sunk to, the depths you must have had to go to bring me back." His throat tightened at that thought, hating that Chloe had seen him at his worst, and so grateful that despite all that she could still care about him enough to want to save him. "Thank you."

"You proved it to yourself. Even with your face in the gutter, you still had the hero in your heart." He remembered her future self, telling him that exact same thing and he couldn't help but reach out and grab her hand. A motion so familiar to him, but obviously foreign to her if the way her hand just sat there limply in his was any indication.

"You saved my life, Chloe. Both the myth... and the man." She smiled at that, curling her fingers around his and squeezing tightly before pulling away to pick up her paper. The loss he felt from that gutted him, and despite her kind words, the lack of recognition in her eyes was simply too much for him to handle.

"Well, I've got to get to the office. I can't even bare to think of the state things are in after my impromptu downward spiral," Oliver said setting the conversation on a more professional track to mask his hurt.

"Tess has kept a pretty good job of sheltering the company from the worst of your antics," Chloe told him and he raised an eyebrow at her defense of the woman he knew would one day be her best friend but in this time period at least was still just shy of a mortal enemy. "You think I'd let her run your company into the ground? Who would fund the Watchtower if I let that happen."

Oliver shook his head, somehow still amazed at all the little ways she managed to look out for him, and she just smiled before going back to her paper. He walked away, having to physically restrain himself from dropping a kiss to her forehead as he passed. When he got to the end of the street, he turned, reluctant to leave her completely just yet. He watched as she set down the paper and reached out, grabbing the small white queen, sliding her thumb reverently over the intricate carving before closing it in her fist. His chest felt a bit lighter after that and he took a slow, deep breath before heading over to LuthorCorp to face Tess.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

He'd spent a good hour being screamed at in his own office before Tess lost steam and just walked away. He worked straight through lunch, Tess had done a good job with the company, managing to keep everything afloat while he had done his best to ruin it all. He didn't actually have much to 'fix', mainly spent his time calling stockholders and soothing fears that he'd totally gone off the deep end.

He hung up the phone on his last call of the day and rubbed his temples before he clicked the Watchtower icon on his desktop and pulled up the security feed from the Watchtower. Chloe was walking across the room, coffee cup in one hand, tablet in the other.

The door flung open and Lois stormed into the room. "So... what was that about?" Lois asked and he looked up guiltily, like he'd just been caught watching porn.

He closed the tab quickly and looked over at her. "Uh-oh. I've seen that look before, usually right before you sock me in the jaw."

"Tempted. But if you're unconscious, you can't answer any questions like, who the hell was that dragon lady?" Lois glowered.

Oliver debated on how much to tell her. He figured admitting Victoria was a psycho who turned his life into some sort of game, acting on her own cousin's orders, before finally shoving him ten years into the future – all to learn a valuable lesson was out of the question.

"She was, um... a psycho ex-girlfriend who watched "Fatal Attraction" too many times," Oliver settled on.

"So, what am I, the bunny?" Lois raised an eyebrow and Oliver chuckled. "Oliver, you really need to take a dip in the sane-chick pool. I mean, that dress - that was a bigger red scare than cold war Russia."

He figured she wasn't going to let this go and the best way to keep Lois off the scent was to act as normally toward her as possible. "Although, I-I thought you wore it pretty well," he joked, trying to play it off but he hated that she'd gotten caught up in it all. "But, um... you never should have been dragged into this mess I made of my life, and, uh...I'm sorry." He looked away in shame, unable to keep up the façade of normalcy.

Lois just scoffed, "Was the mess so bad... that cleaning it up seemed harder than throwing it all away?" Oliver looked at her confused. "I saw the video. That's enough to send anyone on a binge." Oliver sighed, suddenly remembering how he'd felt standing on that pressure plate, thinking the only way to end the guilt, was to end it all. "Why didn't you come talk to me?" Lois asked.

He opted for the truth this time. "Pride, fear, and, um... regret. Lois, the truth is, I've been fighting my demons for so long I just...wanted this war to end."

"And you felt like there was nothing in life worth fighting for?" Lois whispered hurt.

"I never felt that way when I was with you." He was quick to reassure her and then winced when he realized how that sounded. "I m- I mean, I think what I mean is I-I lost sight of... what was good in my life," he explained. "I know things between you and me have changed, right?" Oliver clarified.

Lois smiled. "Some things haven't changed. Ollie, I will always be here for you. And if you forget that again...I will knock you out," she threatened and he laughed. "Okay. Now, I believe there's a certain birthday tradition we have to uphold."

Oliver cleared his throat and nodded as she pulled a six pack out of her bag, "Ready to get your ass kicked?"

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver stood on the rooftop later that night, staring at the stained glass window of the Watchtower. If he squinted just so he could see Chloe's shadow walking around in there. The green leather of the Green Arrow suit felt strange to him, even though he'd worn it the whole time he was in the future. This body was stiff and out of practice and the leather actually chaffed a bit.

"I heard you were back," Clark said from behind him.

Oliver pulled off the hood and sunglasses and gave Clark the once over. "You do know, of course, you look absolutely ridiculous in that, right? I got a great tailor. Hook you up with a little color maybe?" He couldn't help but picture the Clark from the future, flying around Metropolis in the blue suit and red cape and he smiled.

"Nice to see you finally discovered something worth living for after all," Clark said and Oliver's gaze went immediately back in the direction of the Watchtower.

"Yeah. More like a rediscovery, actually. You've done a hell of a job keeping the world safe on your own, Clark. But I'm here to help you now," Oliver assured him.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

He'd been back almost a week now and he still had to brace himself every time he saw Chloe's name flash across the screen of his phone, make sure he didn't say too much. Like "I love you" or "I know your future."

"Hey," Oliver answered with a smile.

"_Just wanted to let you know I'll be re-tasking the Watchtower's satellite for a while." _

"Okay." Oliver frowned rounding the corner. "Why?"

"_Just looking into something for Clark_," Chloe answered vaguely, _ "And Oliver,_ _we might have a lead on the Kandorians_."

"Tess?" Oliver asked.

"_Look I know she's your business partner and the two of you have this history, but she's up to something and if she knows anything about the Kandorians—_"

"It's fine, Chloe," Oliver assured her. "Just…watch your back okay?"

"_Are you worried about me_?" Chloe teased.

"Like you said, Tess and I have a history, so I know exactly what she's capable of." Oliver bit his tongue to stop himself from giving too much away. He pushed open the door to the warehouse and the sound of cheering and fighting assaulted him.

"_Where are you_?" Chloe asked confused.

"Fight club," Oliver answered looking around at the different fights going on around him. He'd heard rumors about something starting up in the warehouse district and remembered Hal talking about how Oliver had found Mia in a underground fight club. So he'd gone to check it out, see if he could find her.

"_Oliver,"_ Chloe's tone sounded slightly disappointed and he smiled.

"Are you worried about me?" he teased as saw a familiar face in one of the crowds. "Well don't be, I'm just here as a spectator. There's a fighter everyone's talking about. Wanted to come down and check her out myself. See if maybe she'd be a good fit for the team."

"_You're recruiting again_?" Chloe asked softly and he smiled.

"Yeah, figured if the Kandorians really are up to something, it'd be nice to have the team in full force," Oliver said.

"_Good point_," Chloe said. "_Hey, watch your back too_."

"Always," Oliver said before hanging up. He stood off to the side watching, wincing at every hit that the guy landed on Mia. Her form was good, obviously street fighting, not regulation. She was self taught. A lifetime on the streets taking care of herself but she was still a bit raw and Oliver could work with raw.

It was hard to reconcile the scrappy fighter with the polished law school grad he knew she'd one day be, but if he looked closely he could see that in her too. Especially the way she refused to give up until she was the one standing victorious over a man three times her size.

He watched the man go into the ring when the fight was over. Watched as he grabbed her hard and pulled her away, watched as she walked right past him, offering him nothing but a vacant stare. Oliver followed them out and saw her get pulled into another warehouse a couple blocks away and had to swallow down the bile in his throat when he noticed she was shoved back out onto the street a minute later.

There was a short blonde wig hiding her own brown locks and the change of clothes left nothing to the imagination. It was obvious what she was supposed to be doing. He waited for a while as she joined the other girls and then went back to his car and rounded the corner to stop in front of her.

She gave the car a once over then walked over, leaning into the driver side window. "Nice wheels."

"Nice leather," he teased jokingly admiring her boots. They were a novelty for him, on Mia at least. He remembered asking Chloe why Mia was the only one who didn't have the whole leather cat suit thing going on. Chloe had frowned and said it was because she'd had enough of that look in her former life. Oliver understood now what she'd meant. He watched as she glanced over her shoulder at her pimp before turning back to him.

"Still, nothing compares to Aston Martin's original V8 Vantage," Mia changed the subject.

Oliver nodded. There was the Mia he knew and loved, the one who he could sit up all hours with arguing over the finer points of Aston Martin versus Ferrari. "You know your cars."

She smirked and Oliver opened the door, stepping out into the street. He looked her up and down, resisting the urge to walk over to Ray and just beat the crap out of him then and there, instead he walked over to the passenger side and tossed her the keys. "Wanna see what she can really do?"

He'd ridden with Mia in the future once, just once, much to the confusion and amusement of everyone else and vowed he'd never do it again. And as they sped down a side street, Oliver finally truly appreciated what it meant when Chloe told him that Mia had calmed down considerably.

"Whoa. Uh, why don't you take it easy, there, speedy? I'm trying to stay away from life in the fast lane." Oliver gripped at the door, scrambling for some sort of purchase.

"So, why are you cruising for company?" she asked him with a sneer.

"Well, I'm not cruising for company, actually. I was looking for you. I've seen you fight. You got speed, strength. You're talented," Oliver said, proud of himself that he'd managed to get all that out while simultaneously keeping down his lunch.

"Why do you care?" Mia asked guardedly.

"I'm just somebody trying to help you fix your life. That last guy was twice your size, kept on beating you down, and you just kept coming back after him." Oliver couldn't keep the tone of pride out of his voice.

"I don't bruise that easily," Mia pointed out.

"Well, maybe not on the outside." He thought about the Mia he knew from the future about what she'd had to overcome, the trust issues she still battled with on a daily basis because of her life on the streets. "I know what I'm talking about, Mia, because I used to fight for the same reasons that you do. It never mattered who was standing across from me, because the real battle was with myself. I can train you... to teach you how to overcome your fear, all that hate in your heart, and get you off the streets," Oliver said, suddenly nervous, despite the fact that he'd seen her future, that she might actually say no to him.

"Oh. My hero." His stomach clenched at the way she said hero. She used it all the time in the future but there was always a hint of teasing behind him, a little joke between friends. But here, now, despite the sarcastic tone she'd used, there was too much hope behind it for him to take the word lightly. She softened a bit at his expression. "So, what's this help gonna cost me...hero?"

Oliver smiled, knowing now that he had her. "Just a little time - time enough for me to prove to you that you can trust me."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Mia had been skeptical when Oliver brought her back to the clock tower and instead of showing her to the bedroom, tossed her a pillow and a blanket and told her to make herself comfortable on the couch. He'd barely slept a wink, convinced when he got up the next morning that she'd be gone. But he didn't want to push her. He needed her to believe that he didn't want anything from her.

He was pleasantly surprised when he walked into the kitchen the next morning and found her staring at his cappuccino machine like it might bite her. "How do you work this thing?" she asked and smiled grabbing his jacket and car keys.

"I don't," he told her honestly. "Not even sure if it's plugged it. There's a cart on the corner though, pretty good French roast. You want something?"

"Yeah that sounds good." Mia nodded. "Uh black, two sugars."

"I'll be right back," Oliver nodded patting his jacket for his wallet before turning around and holding out a hand. Mia rolled her eyes and tossed him his wallet.

They ate breakfast in silence, Mia picking at the croissant he brought back for her as she studied him over his coffee cup. "This is pretty good coffee but seriously Oliver, what am I doing here?" Mia asked.

"I suppose we probably should get down to business." Oliver pushed his paper to the side. Mia sat up straight, fear in her eyes, and Oliver reached under the table and tossed something at her. "Put these on."

She looked down and her whole body relaxed when she noticed they were gloves. "Get dressed, I've got an early conference call and then you're going to show me what you've got?"

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver kind of felt bad for beating the kid. Technically he had her at a disadvantage that had nothing to do with his years of practice and everything to do with the fact that he'd been sparring with her for more longer than she'd been sparring with him. In the future they trained together every day when she was in Star City and he'd gotten used to her fighting style. She was sloppy and undisciplined and a little out of shape but she had a very distinctive style.

She was getting frustrated and losing focus so he faked left, allowing her to sweep his feet, flipping him onto the mat. The look of accomplishment on her face was worth the bruise he'd have on his hip. But this was about showing her how much she didn't know so he only let her bask in her victory for a second before pulling her down and flipping her onto the mat.

"Not bad, but we've got some serious work to do." Oliver stood up and held out a hand to help her up. She took it reluctantly. "Hit the shower."

Mia grumbled as she walked away and Oliver smiled, grabbing a towel and wiping his face before picking up his phone off the side table. He dialed Chloe's number and she picked up on the second ring.

"_What?" _she sounded annoyed.

"How's it going?" He asked her grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge and twisting the top off.

"_Oh it's going great,"_ Chloe said, the sarcasm in her voice evident. _"Every time I knock through one of this guy's walls, he's got another waiting for me."_

"Have you slept yet?" Oliver asked downing half the bottle of water in one long gulp.

"_I'll sleep when I'm done." _ Chloe brushed him off.

"Chloe—"

"_Look I gotta go,_" Chloe said hanging up before Oliver could protest. He set the phone down on the table and sighed.

"Ollie, I need your help." Lois burst through the doors and into the room.

"It's not a good time, Lois." Oliver walked over to his desk and sat down.

"You know how Clark and I have this side job hosting _Good Morning Metropolis_?" Oliver looked at her like she was crazy. How come no one told him about this and why weren't there videos in the future that they all sat around and watched. And mocked.

"Uh... Clark Kent's hosting morning television? I can't wait to watch him show me how to bake a cake," Oliver said, unable to keep the laughter out of his voice.

"Well, our first report does have some heat, but it's not about baking. They set us both up on blind dates," Lois complained.

The chuckled escaped before Oliver had a chance to stop it. This just kept getting better and better. "Clark's on a blind date? Talk about footage of a train wreck."

"Well, you might want to save the space on your DVR, because here's the kicker. He did great," Lois said.

Oliver finally understood. "And you want to be better." He got up and walked around the desk. He really didn't understand how he never saw it before. Lois' obvious infatuation with Clark.

"That's why I'm here. I need you to tell me my red flags," Lois asked him.

"Red flags?" Oliver asked confused.

"You know, anything about me that annoyed you while we were together. I bought a killer dress. I reserved the entire Ace of Clubs. But if I don't identify my deal-breakers, they're gonna cancel this date before it even gets to air."

"Well, call it selective memory or short attention span, but I only remember the good things... like how you used to brush your hair back when you were nervous or you used to call out football plays in your sleep," he teased and Lois smiled just as a cloud of steam came from the back room and Mia emerged in nothing but a towel.

"Thanks for the workout, Ollie, but time's up. Do you think you could pay me in smaller bills?" Mia stopped when she noticed he had company.

Lois looked at Mia and sighed in resignation as if she'd just been waiting for something like this. "Nice towel, honey." She turned to Oliver, her expression one of disappointment. "Where will she put the money?"

"Um, see - see the thing is, we - we were just sparring," Oliver tried to explain to no avail.

"Don't worry, Ollie. I'm not here to judge. I just kind of hoped you'd spend more than one week clean before you got back in the gutter. Sorry I interrupted your...sparring." Lois turned and walked away.

"I'm gonna go change," Mia said walking back into the bathroom as Oliver collapsed into the chair behind his desk. The last thing he needed was Lois running to Chloe to talk about the prostitute she'd found in Oliver's apartment. Not that he had any reason to believe that Lois and Chloe talked about him at all, he wasn't even sure that Lois knew Chloe worked for him.

Cautiously, he opened his computer and clicked on the Watchtower icon again, pulling up the security feed. He relaxed slightly when he saw that Chloe was not on the phone with Lois. She was at her computer, staring intently at the screen as she typed rapidly.

"_Finally_," she sighed as **Access Denied** popped up on the screen. "_Another firewall_?" Chloe groaned and Oliver zoomed in as she resumed typing, breaking through two more firewalls before yet another box with **Access Denied** popped up. "_Okay. Now you made me angry_." Chloe cricked her neck and got work.

"Oliver!" Mia called out and Oliver lifted his head up, his expression one of a deer caught in the headlights. "Are you looking at porn?" Mia smiled teasingly at him. Oliver slammed the computer closed and glared at her. "Bathroom's free," she announced impishly.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver stepped out of the shower and pulled on his shirt and pants, then reached for his watch, only to find that it was not sitting where he left it. He walked into the main room and saw Mia, one leg up on the coffee table as she zipped up her red thigh-high boots. He laid a hand on her knee, stopping her and she looked up at him in confusion.

"I thought you said no strings attached." She frowned.

"I'm not trying to sleep with you, kid, but if you think a pebble in your shoe is painful, wait till you feel what a $50,000 watch will do." He held out a hand and waved his fingers for the watch and she dug it out of the top of her boot and handed it over. "Thank you. Take a look around? Why would you want to go back out on the streets?"

"You don't get it. If I can finish paying off what I owe Rick, I'm done. I'm free," Mia said.

"Well, how much do you owe Rick? I'll cover it," Oliver said sitting on the edge of the couch.

"And then I'd owe you. I don't think so." Mia rolled her eyes.

"I'm not that kind of guy," Oliver explained.

"Don't tell me about types, okay? I know them all - Rick's type, your type, political types, twisted types - and I'm sick of all of you," Mia snapped and walked to the door. He didn't want to push her but he didn't want to lose her either.

"Well, I'm not gonna trap you here, Mia. I would just like to see you do something with your life that you can actually be proud of," Oliver told her honestly, the image of her beaming smile as she walked off that stage, diploma in hand. She stopped and turned around.

"Why would you help someone like me?" she asked, honestly confused.

"Because I know what it feels like to be stuck in a place that you feel there's no escape from. And my friends-" he swallowed hard, thinking about Chloe. "Helped me find the way out."

Mia sighed. "If I stay... it's gonna cost you."

"Way ahead of you. I went ahead and had my staff buy you some clothes." He grabbed a few bags from behind the couch. "I'm sure you'll find something in there that you like. Oh, and, hey, I hope you dress as fast as you drive, 'cause I'm gonna need you to drop me off somewhere." He tossed her the keys to the car.

Mia dug through the bag trying to find something she liked. "Does this have anything to do with a certain blonde you've been cyber stalking all day?" Mia looked at his computer. She'd taken a peek while he'd been showering. Opening it back up, she revealed the security footage from the Watchtower, showing Chloe still hard at work.

Oliver closed the screen again and glared at her. "I'm not stalking her."

"Sure," Mia said not believing him for a second. "So she knows your watching her then?"

Oliver turned away, scratching the back of his neck. "Come on, we're gonna be late."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"You want to tell me why I've been getting alerts for the past thirty minutes about some sort of cyber intrusion at the Watchtower," Oliver asked Chloe as he got out of the car in front of the Ace of Clubs.

"_I'm on it,"_ Chloe replied, the sounds of typing in the background. _"This guy thinks he can get one over on me. He has no idea who he's messing with." _

"You need backup?" Oliver asked and Chloe snorted.

_"I think I can handle one little hacker,"_ Chloe said. _"But if I need someone to shoot arrows at the computer, I'll give you a call." _

"Funny," Oliver said before hanging up the phone and walking into the building.

He watched from the door to the club as Lois lit the candles and asked the waiter for something stronger to drink. She pushed something in her ear that Oliver couldn't see and rolled her eyes. "Gee Clark, you sound like my mom on prom night."

Good, so Clark was watching this from somewhere. Lois took a deep breath and looked right into the camera. "How do I look?" she asked and Oliver couldn't hear what Clark said in response but he saw the way Lois blushed, how she looked down at her hands and fiddled nervously with her fingers, he imagined it met her approval.

"Do I detect a note of jealously from the notoriously nice Clark Kent?" Lois asked teasingly. "Careful my date doesn't hear you, he might just have to take you down."

Lois listened for a minute and then shrugged. "You know what they say? All's fair in love and war." And he hoped she meant that, because if she didn't, she was gonna kill him when she figured out what he was doing here.

"Clark, it sounds like you're asking me out on another date," Lois teased and Oliver smiled, figuring that was his cue to get this ball rolling. He walked into the room and watched amused as Lois caught sight of him out of the corner of her eye.

"Oliver?" Lois said surprised and confused. He grabbed the champagne from the waiter and walked to the table. "What are you doing here?" She looked around nervously.

"Well, you wanted this television tryst to make an impression, right, Lois?" Oliver reminded her.

"My blind date... is with you?" She slowly connected the dots.

Oliver smirked. "Well, technically, your blind date's leaving in the elevator. I paid him to go seek his 15 minutes of fame somewhere else." Lois drained the rest of the champagne in her glass and Oliver frowned, suddenly worried this wasn't going to go the way he hoped. "Wow. Uh, I always kind of took you for a beer girl."

"No, no - only the finer things in life for Lois Lane." She beamed her fake newscaster smile at him and he frowned.

"Oh, yes, right. Of course. Then a toast." Oliver raised his glass as she finished the rest of the champagne and stared him down.

"Oliver, it's bad enough that I catch you dragging yourself through the mud again, but now you're bound and determined to ruin my date," she almost hissed at him.

"Okay, that meeting that you walked in on-that was someone I was actually helping." Oliver knew he was getting off track here but he really didn't want her to think badly about Mia.

"You obviously helped her out of her clothes," Lois snorted.

"Very funny. And I'm not here to sabotage you. I just thought your audience might want a date with Metropolis' most eligible billionaire bachelor. That'd be me," he pointed out.

Lois sighed, knowing he actually made a good point. "I guess it wouldn't hurt the ratings. Okay. You got 10 minutes to explain yourself."

"Well I'm only gonna need one, because there's really only one reason why I came here." Oliver really hoped this was going to work. If there was one thing he knew about Lois Lane it was that her true colors only ever came out when she was backed up into a corner. "I never finished saying what it is that I loved about you."

"Oh. Okay." She was obviously uncomfortable which was a good thing.

"Let me just skip to the end. The thing I love about you the most, is that you're still in my life, because you're still in my heart." The look of sheer terror on her face was almost worth this whole thing even if it didn't get her and Clark together.

"Check, please." She grabbed his arm and dragged him away from the table, pulling her earpiece out. "Couldn't this heart-to-heart have waited until the cameras were off?"

"No. I'm not hiding my feelings anymore, Lois. And I kind of figured by saying all that stuff with the cameras on, I could prove that to you." He smiled and added silently, _where Clark could watch the whole thing._

"I had no idea you still had such strong feelings," Lois said to him sadly.

"You know I went to a really dark place, Lois. And I think it took going there and coming back to realize-" he swallowed, wondering how far to push this. "You're the best part of my life." And in a way that was the truth. She was really the first true friend he ever had and he knew that she would always be a part of his family.

Lois put a hand on his face. "I love you, Oliver. As a dear friend. Which is why I have to be totally honest with you."

"Clark," he asked, hoping she'd finally admit it to him.

"Yes," Lois breathed out and Oliver sighed, glad that it worked.

"Well, I'm happy you know what you want. I guess it just hurts knowing it's not me," he said trying not to lay the heartbreak on too thick.

"I am so sorry." Lois frowned.

He kissed her forehead and cleared his throat. "Good night, Lois."

Oliver walked way, surprised to find he was actually a bit hurt. He loved Chloe, he really did but there was a still a part of him, a part that hadn't gotten any closure with Lois and he didn't know how much he'd really needed it until now. He pushed out into the alleyway and heard a honk from behind him. He turned around to see Mia waiting there with his car.

"Oliver." Lois walked into the alley toward him. "I said I was your friend, and I meant it. I am not going to let you wander down any more dark alleys."

Oliver sighed, maybe he had laid the heartache on a little too thick. "Thank you. But you don't have to worry about me, Lois. I'm all about embracing life right now. I'm not trying to end it," he added.

"Good." Lois smiled at him.

"You know what I mean? Trying to take the right kind of chances. And you, my friend, were definitely a chance worth taking," he said honestly. Lois reached out to hug him and noticed his car in the alleyway, Mia at wheel.

"Is towel girl your driver now? Maybe your plan _B_?" Lois joked.

Oliver rolled her eyes. "Very funny. Uh, her name is Mia. And come on, I'll introduce you for real this time. Mia. Hey, Mia." Oliver knocked on the window but she didn't roll it down. That's when he noticed the fear in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," Mia said through the glass sadly right before he felt a splitting pain erupt in the back of his head.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

He came to slowly and painfully. He was in the trunk of his own car, which wasn't exactly the ideal place to be. Especially when he could hear Lois screaming and the muffled sounds of fighting nearby (in the distance). He dragged himself up to a sitting position, his vision still blurry and his head pounding against his skull.

"I can't let you do this," Oliver heard, lifting his head up and he saw Mia holding a gun on Ray. Of course this was about Ray. He really, really hated that guy.

"Check this out. Streetwalker thinks she's a street fighter. What are you gonna do, Mia?

"Stay where you are."

"You gonna gun me down, huh? You don't have it in you. You're no hero."

Oliver climbed out of the car as quietly as he could, watching as Ray took the gun from Mia and knocked her out before turning it on Lois. He jumped into action then, slipping out of the shadows and surprising Ray and with a right hook to the jaw, freeing the gun from his hand in the process. Lois took that as her cue to turn on the two guys holding her and within seconds she was free and they were down for the count.

"Go! Go!" Oliver pushed Lois up the fire escape stairs and onto the roof. Ray was right behind them and Oliver couldn't do anything but grab Lois, shielding her with his body. The whole time he kept thinking it couldn't end this way because Lois and Clark were going to get married and have the twins. And he and Chloe-he swallowed, his thought about Chloe as Ray fired, once, twice, and then a third time.

He stared ahead in fear waiting for the bullets to hit him but they never did. Because suddenly Clark was standing in front of him holding a bullet in his fingers a mere inch from Oliver's eye as Ray's gun backfired on him, exploding with enough force to knock the man to the ground. Clark looked at Oliver, then behind him where Lois was huddled with her eyes held tightly closed. He nodded at Oliver and Oliver nodded back as Clark dropped the bullet to the ground and took off in a blur.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver insisted on driving Lois back home, which started a fight between him and Mia when the girl finally came too. She reminded Oliver that he'd given her the car so she should be the one to drive. He insisted that they'd all been traumatized enough for one day and she could have the car keys back when he was far, far away.

Lois sat in the backseat, watching the two of them bicker back and forth. Mia nagged Oliver for going slower than her grandmother. Oliver shot back that there was no way she could possibly know that considering she didn't even have a grandmother. Mia then pretended to pout for fifteen minutes, playing the poor little orphan girl card, securing Lois firmly on her side and only cracked a smile when Oliver promised to stop for ice cream.

When they got the Talon, Oliver walked her up to the apartment and Lois sighed. "So Mia—"

"I'm not sleeping with her," Oliver said defensively and Lois laughed.

"Oh I know that. The way you two bicker is more like brother and sister." Lois smiled. "She seems like a good kid."

"She is," Oliver said. "She just needs someone to show her there are other paths available to her, ones that don't lead to self destruction."

"And you're that person?" Lois asked skeptically.

"I know it's hard for you to see this, considering two days ago you watched me almost commit suicide by bomb, but I'm a different person now."

"You've changed?" Lois said. "In two days."

"No," Oliver sighed. "And technically yes. Let's just say I hit rock bottom and I was lucky enough to have a friend who was willing to come down into the mud and drag me out."

Lois narrowed her eyes at him. "Why do I get the feeling the friend you're talking about isn't me?" she whispered.

Oliver smiled at her. "It's complicated and I swear if I could explain it to you, I would but I can't. Partly because I barely understand it myself."

"Look, it doesn't matter," Lois assured him. "I'm just glad you've got someone willing to get dirty for you."

"Yeah, so am I." Oliver smiled as Mia honked the horn outside. "I gotta go. I'm pretty sure she wouldn't actually leave me here but we're still working on the trust thing."

"I'll be fine," Lois assured him, as if almost getting shot by some crazy guy on the roof of the Ace of Clubs was an everyday occurrence. Which, he supposed, for them, it kind of was. Well every week at least.

"Ice cream?" Mia asked hopefully from the driver's seat when Oliver got back to the car and he didn't have the energy to tell her to move.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver walked into the Watchtower with two cups of coffee in his hand. "Almond mocha, extra whip. I got you a double shot 'cause I figured you could use it." He stopped short in the middle of the room when he realized Chloe wasn't there. "Chloe?" He looked up at the landing on the second floor.

"She's not here," Clark called as he walked out of the backroom.

"I uh, just wanted to see how she was getting along with the hacker."

"She found him," Clark said tapping a few keys and bringing up at picture on the monitor. "His name's Stuart Campbell, she's meeting him downtown in an hour. She thinks she can turn him, give us someone on the inside at Tess'."

"And you just let her go?" Oliver asked. "By herself? We don't know anything about this guy, he could be a psycho."

Clark looked from Oliver to the picture of Stuart up on the screen, wondering if they were looking at the same guy. "He went to MIT, he's a hacker, he's hardly a criminal mastermind," Clark said. "Chloe's a big girl, she can take care of herself."

"Still," Oliver said, trying to tone down the over-protectiveness just a bit. "Never hurts to have backup you know," he mumbled.

"Oliver, can I ask you something?" Clark said suddenly.

"Sure," Oliver nodded, flipping through the file Chloe put together on Stuart Campbell.

"It's about Lois," Clark said more cautiously. Oliver ducked his head to hide his smile and motioned for Clark to continue. "Look, I heard what you said to her yesterday, at the Ace of Clubs."

"Clark—"

"No, just let me finish." Clark took a deep breath. "I know that you've been through a lot the past couple of months and, well, you're my friend and I don't want to-."

"You love her," Oliver said, desperate to cut whatever awkward speech Clark had rehearsed in his head over with before it could even begin.

"But if you want me to back off, I understand," Clark offered.

"Okay, look." Oliver sighed. "What I said to Lois yesterday, I didn't mean it. I'd had a…really bad week and I was confused and whatever I might have felt for Lois, it was a long time ago. Besides it doesn't really matter what I feel, it matters what Lois feels and the only person she feels anything for these days…is you."

"Really?" Clark asked skeptically.

"Yeah," Oliver nodded.

"So you think I should—"

"God yes, please, put us all out of our misery," Oliver begged.

Clark smiled and headed for the door. He stopped and turned back to Oliver, "There's a flower shop on 45th."

"Okay," Oliver said confused.

"That's where Chloe's meeting him. Behind the flower shop on 45th," Clark said. "It never hurts to have backup."

"Thanks," Oliver picked up the coffees and followed Clark out of the Watchtower.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver spotted Stuart ducking into the alley just as he got to the flower shop. He followed him in, hanging back a little as Chloe emerged from under the stairs and dropped and envelope on an overturned trashcan.

Stuart grabbed the envelope cautiously and pulled out the papers inside. His cocky smile faded as he flipped through the file and he looked up at Chloe, fear evident in his eyes. "How did you find all this? I buried all this."

"You're good," Chloe shrugged. "I'm better."

"What do you want?" Stuart shoved the papers back in the envelope and tossed it back to Chloe.

"I want to know what Tess is up to," Chloe said.

"I don't know," Stuart said and Chloe glared. "Seriously I don't know. She doesn't tell me anything."

"But you can find out," Chloe suggested and Stuart swallowed, looking between her and the file before nodding. "Good." Chloe held out her hand and almost reluctantly Stuart reached out and shook it. "I'll be in touch."

Chloe grabbed the file and slipped it in her bag before walking toward the street. Oliver slid out of the alley and waited at the corner for her, holding out the cup of coffee. She didn't break her stride when she saw him, simply smiled and took the proffered cup as he fell in step beside her.

"Do you trust him?" Oliver asked.

"Not further than I can throw him." Chloe shook her head and took a sip. "What are you doing here?

"Just thought I'd be around, in case you needed backup." Oliver shrugged, grabbing her elbow and steering her across the street.

"I'm a big girl, Ollie, I can take care of myself," Chloe said.

"I know," Oliver sighed, "I just you want _you_ to know I've got your back." Her words from the day before echoed in his head. _I trust you, Oliver. Just not that much._

"Oliver," Chloe said stopping in the middle of the sidewalk and grabbing his hand. "I know."

Oliver looked down at her hand and wondered how something could feel so familiar and so foreign all at the same time. He looked back up at her and could tell by the look in her eyes that she had absolutely no clue what she was doing to him.

"So where are we going?" Chloe asked dropping his hand as she started walking again.

"The Clock Tower. There's someone there I want you to meet," Oliver said as he caught up with her.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Mia had been asleep on the couch when Oliver left for the Watchtower that morning, but when he got back with Chloe she was nowhere to be found. "Mia!" Oliver called out, heading to the back room to look for her.

"Oliver," Chloe called after him and he walked back into the main room to see her holding out a piece of paper, a frown on her face.

He took the paper and opened it, it read; _"Oliver, I was wrong, maybe you're not like every other guy out there, and that's exactly why I've got to bail. All I could ever bring you is trouble and you don't deserve that. Thanks for everything, Speedy._

Oliver sighed and folded up the paper, slipping it in his pocket. "I don't understand, everything was fine last night, we went out for ice cream," Oliver said dumbly.

"Things always look different in the light of day," Chloe said softly.

"She couldn't even give me a chance?" Oliver looked at Chloe hopelessly.

"Kids like Mia learn at a very early age not to rely on anyone else. They're convinced eventually everyone will leave," Chloe explained.

"What am I supposed to do?" Oliver asked.

"Prove her wrong," Chloe said, picking up Oliver's jacket and holding it out to him.

Oliver found her exactly where he knew he would, a place, if he had his way, she'd never have to see again. When he pulled his car up to the curb and rolled the window down he could tell by the way she stiffened just slightly, that she was actually surprised to see him. He smiled and she pushed off the wall slowly, circling the car with caution before finally getting in.

She pulled off the blonde wig and let her hair flow free. She didn't speak the whole way to the Clock Tower. When they walked into the building, the doorman gave her a dismissive once over before sneering. The expression was instantly wiped off his face however with one look from Oliver. She looked ready to bolt the whole ride up and Oliver was half afraid she would when the grate opened and suddenly Chloe was standing there, waiting for them and smiling.

"Hi, you must be Mia," Chloe said and Mia looked between Oliver and Chloe in confusion. "I thought you might be hungry so I made breakfast."

"Thank you," Mia said cautiously.

There was a crash from the kitchen and Chloe winced as Bart's voice carried through the room. "Sorry! I'll clean that up."

"Bart's here?" Oliver asked and Mia looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Well, he called to see how you were doing and I mentioned breakfast, so he sort of invited himself over." Chloe shrugged.

"Would you just stop, you're making it worse," Victor snapped.

"And Victor," Chloe added a bit guiltily. "And Dina and AC," she finished in a rush.

"Chloe," Oliver sighed.

"What? They were all still in town after the thing and we really haven't had a chance to get together and I know they can be quite overwhelming." Chloe glanced at Mia. "But she's got to meet them sometime."

"Yeah," Oliver agreed in resignation. "But did it have to be all at once?"

"Oliver, I can't do this," Mia said backing up to the elevator. "I know these are your friends but and I saw how that woman looked at me yesterday." Oliver frowned confused. "Lois. That's how everyone's gonna look at me. They're always gonna see me as the street kid, or the charity case, or the whore."

Oliver cut her off with a glare. "Don't," he said sharply. "No one's gonna think that-no one that matters anyway."

"No matter how hard you try or how much I change, I'll never fit into your world."

"I don't want you to change," Oliver told her honestly. "I want you to be you, and if don't think you don't fit in my world, well then I'll just change my world to fit you." He shrugged.

"Maybe I should change first," she said smoothing down her hair self consciously and pulling at the edge of her skirt, willing it to grow a couple of inches.

"I wouldn't worry about it, you'll fit right in," Chloe assured her and Mia and Oliver both looked at her in confusion. "Canary was out patrolling all night. She didn't bother going home to change."

Oliver nodded in understanding but Mia still looked confused until they walked into the kitchen and she saw the blonde leaning against the counter, wearing a pair of very short black leather shorts and fishnet stockings.

"You're just making a bigger mess. You know that right?" she said teasingly to the Bart, AC, and Victor who were trying and failing to wipe up what looked like a gallon of milk off the floor.

"Just…I'll get it," Chloe said annoyed, shooing them away as she grabbed a handful of towels. "Go set the table."

They all mumbled some variation of, "Yes ma'am" and started pulling plates and silverware out of the cabinet to take over to the table.

"Guys, this is Mia," Oliver said, putting an arm over her shoulder. "Mia, this is Bart, AC, Victor, and Dinah."

Mia stood next to him, her whole body stiff as they all nodded a greeting. "Killer boots," Dinah said, completely serious, as she took a step forward to examine them more closely.

"Awesome tights," Mia countered with nod and Dinah smiled up at her.

"Oh, you can help us settle a tie," Bart announced tossing an arm over her shoulder and steering her to the table. "As a completely unbiased participant; who do you think would win in a fight? Ninjas or pirates?"

Mia looked over her shoulder at Oliver as if to ask him if he was being serious. Oliver smiled and nodded and Mia turned back to Bart. "I'm gonna have to go with ninjas, all the way." Bart and Dinah high-fived each other excitedly as AC and Victor groaned.

"No way," AC shook his head. "Pirates beat ninjas any day of the week."

"In what universe?" Mia asked, getting into the discussion. "Ninjas are badass."

"Pirates are ruthless," Victor argued.

Oliver made his way over to the table, taking the seat next to Mia. He sat back and smiled as Mia held her own against AC and Victor and unwittingly making a friend for life in Bart. Chloe arrived a few minutes later, filling the table with eggs and bacon and an enormous stack of pancakes and they all just sat and ate breakfast.

"You know," Mia said turning to Chloe. "You look so familiar, are you sure we haven't met before?"

"I'm sure," Chloe nodded.

"Oh wait," Mia turned to Oliver. "She's the girl you were—" Oliver kicked her under the table, shutting her up before she could say, _She's the one you were cyber-stalking yesterday on the security feed._

"The girl you what?" Chloe turned her gaze on Oliver and he laughed nervously.

"The girl I was telling here about," Oliver said. "I must have just described you really, really, well."

Chloe looked skeptically between Mia and Oliver, not buying it for a second but dropping it in favor of preventing WWIII from erupting between Bart and Victor.

"We are so talking about this you know," Mia whispered to him and glared at her.

"Eat your bacon," Oliver said and Mia just smirked.


End file.
